The Twist in Her Return
by Criminal-Twilight-Minds
Summary: When Emily Prentiss left America to pursue her career at London Interpol, she wasn't aware that one silly thing would change her life forever. After the first accident, she wouldn't let it happen again, but boy was she wrong. She scared herself out of telling him the first time, but she wouldn't run again; not this time. She'd do the right thing this time. (Involves the whole team)
1. 4 Years Ago

**Hello hello! Just a little hint as for what's to come, I've had many requests for a Demily baby and what you request you shall (most likely) receive. (And yes, I am aware that their ages may not line up with the timeline, but I don't care).**

 **I wasn't going to begin publishing this yet, but my first day or Year 11 was today, and my improved mentality over the holidays has completely diminished, so it was a pretty bad day, to put it lightly. On top of that, there is complete and utter chaos in my home life and it has been getting worse with every day over the past few weeks.**

 **Basically, I'm posting this now in the hopes to bring not only some brightness and something to look forward to in my own life, but to possibly lift a few of you who may be feeling a bit down lately.**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.

 **Let me know what you think as it goes on and read forth, my loves!**

 **-A xx**

4 YEARS AGO:

 **Prentiss**

This was it. Today was my last day working with my beautiful team at the BAU. Today was my last day in Virginia, my last day in the United States. Today was where my whole life started to fall apart and became whole all in one. It was where I realised that not everything has to go as you planned for it to be a good thing. It was where I realised that I was capable of much more than I had thought.

We had just wrapped up my last case here and got back to Quantico. I sat down at my desk one last time. I took it all in; my desk, the colourful small objects Garcia had made or bought me to brighten up my desk from all the horrible things that crossed it, the bullpen in front of me, Morgan's desk behind me, JJ's desk beside me, Reid's desk diagonal from me. I ran my hand along the front of the desk lightly before standing up. I glanced around the bullpen again, saying a silent goodbye to my workplace and second home of 5 years. I turned and looked at Hotch and Rossi's offices but I stopped short when I saw the team lined along the wall of the catwalk, watching me. JJ, Garcia and Reid were crying, Morgan, Rossi and Hotch looked upset. Will was by JJ's side, holding her close to him as he looked very upset too. He had met us here to say a pre-goodbye to me before drinks at my apartment. Tears filled my eyes when I saw them but I looked down and blinked them away before they fell.

Garcia walked down the steps and over towards my desk when I looked up. She picked up the small items and put them into my bag, "You can brighten up your Interpol desk." I smiled at her and nodded. She took a deep breath, "I am trying so hard not to sob and ball my eyes out right now." The tears were still dripping down her cheeks.

"Oh, me too." I said quietly.

She picked up the colourful pencil holder with my name engraved across it and the FBI crest above it. She left my pens in and went to put it in my bag but I stopped her, "You keep it. Something to remember me by."

"Oh honey, I'm going to remember you whether I have this or not. We're staying in touch and I'm visiting you all the time. Seriously, call me once a week at the least." She held the pencil holder close to her.

I smiled and nodded, "I will. And I'll come and visit you guys too."

"How often? Like, once a month?" She gasped, "How about once a week? Once a day!?"

I laughed lightly and shook my head. "I'll visit when it's possible to."

"I'm going to miss you." She said quieter.

I smiled, "I'm going to miss you too but this is what's best for everyone, Pen. I'm different now and I can't go back to who I used to be. I was of better use here before Doyle and now I'm not much help."

"Are you kidding me? You _just_ caught the unsub and it was almost all you. The others had no idea; I had no idea. That was all you, Emily."

"I can do more in London and we both know it."

She sighed and looked down, "Okay."

"Are you arguing?" Reid asked as they all walked over.

"No." I said.

"Yes." Garcia disagreed.

"Stop Garcia," I laughed with no humour present, "We both know that this is what I need to do."

"I'm not okay with this." She shook her head.

"You're making this _so_ much harder than it needs to be."

"It should be hard! You're leaving us!" She said with heavy sadness. She turned to walk away but I spoke before she got further than a step.

"Is this how you acted when I was dead?"

She stopped and turned around, "What?" Her eyes were wide with shock that I had brought it up. I never spoke about it.

"When you thought I was dead, were you this mad with me?"

"I'm not mad, I'm upset." She said before walking towards her office.

"But your mad and upset is the same thing…" I said quietly.

"She just _really_ doesn't want you to leave." JJ said.

"She'll get over it once a new agent comes in." I said casually.

"We're not getting a new agent." Hotch said, "At least not for a while."

"Why not?"

"We're hoping that you won't like London and you'll come back sooner or later." Rossi said.

"Please at least _look_ for a replacement?"

Hotch sighed, "Fine, but it won't be a replacement. If we end up recruiting someone, we'll still have a place for you."

"You can't afford that." I smirked.

"I'll work it out."

"Hotch, I don't think I'm coming back." I shook my head, "Not to work here."

"We'll see." A ghost of a smile hinted at his lips.

* * *

My apartment was full of my tipsy team. Garcia and Reid were worse off than everyone else. I had a plane to catch at 11 in the morning, Morgan was driving those two and himself home later, Jack was here with Hotch, Henry was here with JJ and Will and Rossi was driving himself home. We all decided that we wouldn't talk about it again until the end of our night or tomorrow morning before my flight, so it was fun up until then. Eventually, the fun came to end and turned into many tears.

"Don't go." Garcia said, "It's not too late; your position is still there and it'll be a lot harder for them, but I'm sure Interpol will eventually solve what they need to."

I shook my head and looked down, "Please don't make this any worse."

"But this is too hard. I like to think of myself as strong, but not right now."

" _You_ think this is hard? You're saying goodbye to one friend. I'm saying goodbye to seven and two children."

"Fine, I'll see you in a few days when you come for your weekly visit anyway."

"Garcia, you'll find a new agent and you won't even remember me. You'll be fine."

She looked offended by my comment, "I _will_ remember you and we're not getting a new agent."

"You have to." I smiled.

"No, it's not happening. I like the people in this room and that is it. Unless the new agent is Will, we're not getting one. I hate people."

"Want to be a BAU agent?" JJ asked her husband beside her.

"No." He shook his head, "Thanks for the offer, though." His New Orleans accent was strong as he spoke.

Morgan looked at me as I yawned and I sat back, rubbing my eyes. "You're exhausted." He said.

"I still have so much to do before tomorrow." I looked around the room.

"Do you want help?" Rossi asked.

"Uh…no." I shook my head, "I should be okay. Thanks."

"Well we should get going, then. Jack's tired anyway." Hotch smiled at me and stood up.

I stood too and hugged him. Tears filled and fell from my eyes as we hugged. He laughed at me when he heard me sniff. "You're crying."

"You're my favourite boss." I said quietly.

"We'll see what you think when you get to Interpol." He smirked as we parted.

"Bye Emily. Have a good flight." Jack said. I hugged him and kissed his cheek. Rossi stood next and I hugged him too, tears still falling.

"Love you, Em." He said quietly.

I smiled to myself and wiped my eyes as we parted, "Back at you." He smiled and kissed my cheek.

I continued crying as I hugged Will and Henry. Then I hugged Morgan for longer than anyone yet, then Reid for longer than Morgan, Garcia longer than Reid and then I ended with JJ. We didn't part for a good 5 minutes as we both cried.

They left with another goodbye and I broke into a blubbering mess. I sat down on the couch as cried for what felt like an hour before there was a knock on the door. I tried to calm myself down and wiped my cheeks several times as I walked to the door. I opened it and saw Morgan on the other side. He held up a six pack of beer, "Need help?"

I smiled and moved out of the way. We walked in and removed two beers from the cardboard, cracking them open and handing me one. "You don't have to do this."

"But I want to and I'm not going to be able to sleep."

I smiled, "Well, thank you."

"No problem. Where do I start?"

"Um…" I looked around and picked up an empty box, "Put all of that on the bookshelf in here."

"Don't you want to keep any of it?" He asked as he walked over.

"No." I shook my head. "Wait, except for these." I took three frames down. One was of me, JJ and Garcia, one was of me, Morgan, Reid, Rossi, Hotch and Will and one was of all 10 of us, Jack and Henry included. "And this." I took the one on the other side of Sergio and I that Garcia has insisted on taking, putting in a frame and giving to me.

He smiled, "Sentimental value, that one." He motioned to Sergio and I.

"Hey, I'm never going to be able to see my baby anymore. I'm allowed to be emotional. He's the closet thing I will ever get and ever want to a child.

We both laughed and he started packing things in. I started on the other side of the room and we worked in towards the middle. After about an hour, we had finished the room, the last room. The beers were gone and I was drunk now, the beers on top of the previous drinks.

I looked at the framed pictures of the team again before closing the box. I burst into tears then and Morgan put his arms around me. "Hey, shh. You're going to great in London, Em. You're going to kick some advanced criminal arse."

"But the team won't be doing it with me." I said as I pulled away and wiped my cheeks.

"We'll be in your heart with you and we'll only be a phone call away. You can call any time, whether it's the middle of the night or the middle of the day; we'll all answer."

"Am I making a mistake?"

"You're doing what is best for you and that's all you can do."

I looked up into his eyes, "Thank you." All at once, everything happened. He kissed me and instead of pushing him away like I should have, I kissed him back like I wanted to. I was on my bed in no time and he was kissing down my neck. This was when it all started.


	2. 4 Months Later

**I forgot to put this in the first chapter, but if you're a regular reader of my stories, you'd know that I try hard to update once a day. Now that I've started year 11, updates might become less frequent. Sorry :(**

 **-A xx**

4 MONTHS LATER:

 **Prentiss**

I layered my clothes on heavily despite the warm weather in Virginia. The flight here felt like forever, the drive to Quantico felt like forever and I know once I saw them, after just four months, it would feel like it had been forever. I looked down and adjusted myself so the baby bump on my front was hidden. I only had a day here because I could only get two off work at the moment and one was filled with flight. Interpol was busy and I shouldn't have left but I really needed to tell Morgan before he found out another way…or never found out at all. I took a deep breath and walked through the doors into the building.

I got several welcomes and smiles from the people who recognised me on the ground floor. I shot smiles back at them and got a visitors tag before making my way to the elevators and waiting for the doors to open. I didn't even know if the team was here.

While I stood alone in the elevator, I was stuck thinking about his reaction. Would he be happy or upset? Would he be surprised at first and then angry later? Would he want to be a part of its life or not? Would he even want me to keep it? I was stuck with so many thoughts and questions that I had no answers to. I wanted to go back downstairs, walk out of the building, go back to London and just pretend I didn't know just for another month. It was obvious when I wasn't layered, but I was good at pretending. For the first few weeks, Garcia and I talked three times per week, I talked to JJ four and the others one or two. They had web called me from the round table room once or twice so that we could actually see each other. The first time, I remember Hotch and Rossi being so surprised. I never usually dressed _this_ professional and I had started to use makeup a bit more but I quickly dropped that. I just didn't have the time or the patience and I was never able to get up early enough. After the first few weeks though, we kind of lost contact.

I wondered what they'd think now that my hair was cut shorter again and my makeup was unable to cover the large bags underneath my eyes. I was exhausted and overworked. I did it to myself, really, but the team I was now on and running had just caught a very complex unsub. That was another thing; in London, they didn't call them an unsub and I said it often out of habit, leaving my team looking at me in confusion because they always forgot from the many times I had explained what an unsub was. They called them the 'possibly accused', 'accused' or 'defendant', depending on how sure they were that they were the unsub or not. Sometimes they made up a name to call them; usually John or Jane, like John and Jane Doe. It annoyed me a bit, actually. I think I was just missing my team too much.

The elevator finally reached the sixth floor and I walked out onto the smooth linoleum flooring. I took another breath before pulling the glass door open and walking through. I looked to where my team sat. Morgan, Reid and JJ were all working hard at their desks, not looking up. I could see Hotch in his office working on something and I couldn't see Rossi's desk from here but I only assumed he was working too. Garcia was probably in her office. The pencil holder that I left with Garcia was on my desk with my pens in it. I walked towards their desks slowly and cleared my throat loudly. The three of them looked up and smiles spread across their faces. They all stood up. JJ was the first to hug me. She kissed my cheek and she had tears in her eyes. "Only four months and I'm dying without you. I need my best friend and her gun beside me."

I smiled and hugged her again, "I miss you too."

I hugged Reid next and then Morgan. "What are you doing here?" Reid asked.

"Uh…I needed to speak to someone in Virginia so I came and saw everyone." It wasn't technically a lie; it was just avoiding telling them the full truth.

I looked up as Hotch's office door opened and I saw his large smile. "Prentiss." He said as he walked down the steps. I met him there and hugged him.

"Aw, you old softie." JJ teased her boss.

He shook his head and kissed my cheek, "How have you been?"

"I've been great, thanks. What about you?"

"Same as always."

"And Jack?"

"He's recently decided that he wants to be an FBI profiler."

I smiled wider, "You're his hero."

"Why don't you go see Rossi? He really misses you." Hotch nodded.

I smiled and walked up the steps. I made my way up the catwalk and knocked on the door. "Yes." His voice sounded tired. I opened the door and walked in with an eager smile. I never knew I'd miss Rossi as much as I did. He looked up from the paperwork in front of him and the tiredness and frustration in his face disappeared and was replaced with a large smile, "Emily!" He stood up and walked around his desk. He kissed both my cheeks and hugged me.

"I missed you." I said.

"And me you. Let me tell you kiddo, nothing's the same without you here." He said as we parted.

I smiled, "I see there's no agent at my old desk…"

He nodded, "Want it back?"

I smiled and looked down, "Tempting, but it's only been four months. At least give me another eight before I make a decision on whether I'm staying or not."

He smiled, "Have you seen everyone?"

"Not Garcia."

"Well let's go. She'll be thrilled." He walked to the door and motioned for me to walk through first. I went back down the catwalk at his side and down the steps.

"We've devised an amusing plan." JJ said.

"Well, amusing for us. We don't know how amused _you'll_ be." Morgan said.

I motioned for them to continue. "Okay, so you're going to stand by the wall there and Reid is going to go get Garcia. She won't see you when she walks out until you make yourself known or she turns around."

"How is this amusing?" Rossi asked.

"We get to see Garcia's reaction." Morgan smirked.

"Oh, good plan." He nodded.

I laughed to myself and moved over to where she motioned for me to stand. I smiled at Reid as he walked down the small hall towards Garcia's office. Seconds passed before I heard her voice. "Why couldn't they just come to me?" She asked. She was aggravated.

"Just come out here." Reid said. He walked straight passed with a proud smile and stood beside the others who were in an unintentional line from Morgan's desk to the wall.

"What are you doing?" She asked them. She was holding a coffee cup in one hand and two files in the other. Her back was to me and I smiled as I walked behind her silently. The team stood with smiles.

"Hey." I said over her shoulder.

"Ah!" She screamed in excitement as she recognised my voice and threw the files and cup that I had to dodge. She flung herself around and threw her arms around me. I put mine around her and kissed her cheek. A few tears dripped from her eyes and I blinked mine away. "Oh my god! I missed you so damn much!" She said as we separated.

I laughed, "I missed you too."

She wiped the tears from under her eyes carefully as to not smudge the eye makeup. She had a massive smile on her lips. She was elated. "Well how long are you here?"

I bit my lip, "Just today…"

"What?" Her shoulders slumped, "This is just teasing me."

I smiled, "I'm sorry, but Interpol is really busy and I could only get two days. Isn't one day better than none?"

"I guess." She nodded, "So did you just come to visit?"

"She has to talk to someone." JJ said with a smirk, "A guy, maybe?"

I raised my eyebrows, "It could be a female."

"Liar; we're you're only female friends here." She laughed.

"A male? Do we know him?" Garcia asked.

"No." I shook my head.

"Lying again." JJ called me out.

"Do I have a tell?"

"Yes, but we're not going to tell you."

"It's the nails, isn't it?" I asked as I realised that I was picking at them.

"Oh, you're still smart!" Garcia said admirably. "Is it that guy you met at that bar a few weeks before you left?"

"I don't even know his name…" I shook my head.

"Is it someone on the team?"

I linked my fingers together tightly so I couldn't pick, "No."

"You're clenching your hands pretty tight." JJ said.

I rolled my eyes and I was saved from speaking as Garcia's phone sang.

"Argh! Stupid serial killers ruin everything." She muttered as she walked back to her office. I smiled and looked back at the team.

"Entertaining enough?" I asked.

"You dodged the cup very well." Reid laughed.

I laughed too, "She almost knocked me out."

After a few minutes of talking with them, Garcia came back. I hadn't yet found a window to take Morgan away from the others to tell him. "So, how's London?" She asked, joining out circle.

"Honestly? Not that great." I shook my head, "I don't mind it, but I liked my life better here."

"So you should just come back then." She smirked.

"I wish…" I said quietly.

"You can!" She said excitedly.

"No, I really can't." I shook my head, "It's a long story, but I'm stuck at Interpol for the long run."

She slumped down again with a frown.

"Do we have a case, Garcia?" Hotch asked.

She looked up at him, "There was no other team to do it; I asked."

He nodded, "Round table room then."

"Bye." I smiled.

"Come back soon!" JJ said as she hugged me.

"I will. Good luck." I smiled and lifted my bag from my old desk. I walked towards the glass doors so they wouldn't feel awkward walking away from me. I stopped, holding the door open, and looked towards the catwalk where they made their way to the conference room. JJ blew me a kiss, Rossi nodded and Morgan waved with a small, sad smile. Tears filled my eyes as they walked in and sat down. I wanted to be here again but I also didn't want to come back just for Morgan to hate me. I didn't even get to tell him about the baby and that was the whole reason I was here.

I kept myself together the best I could until I got to my car in the lot. That's when I cried heavily. I didn't know what to do.


	3. 3 Months Ago

3 MONTHS AGO:

 **Prentiss**

I walked through the airport with my 4 year old daughter, Ainsley, at my side and her nanny at my other. Sarah found me two years ago a few days before Ainsley's second birthday. She had nothing in her life. No job, no diploma, no family or friends, not even a house or car and she was 25. She asked if I was interested in a nanny for my child. I had recently broken up with my boyfriend then and I was in desperate need for some company other than a 2 year old so I accepted. I offered for her to live with us. I paid for her food; I refused to let her pay rent and I paid her on a weekly wage for looking after Ainsley when I was working. She had bought a car with the money I was paying so she was using her earned money for gas and for food and activities if she had taken Ainsley out of the house and around town. She had become like another daughter and she quickly became a best friend. I got back with my boyfriend within a few weeks, though.

"So what's the plan?" She asked. She knew about Morgan and the team and my last visit here four years ago. I hadn't seen them in person for four years and now I was here a few days before New Year's Eve. We video called a few times and I talked on social media, text, call and communicated through games but never anything too informative. None of them had any idea about Ainsley, not even her own father. I was so disappointed and upset with myself over that.

Every night she asked me when she gets to see him. I show her photos of him and the team so she knows who they are; she's just never actually gotten to meet them. I was afraid of how all of this would go down. I had a few days to spare this time. I was planning on seeing Morgan tonight as it was only early evening and then he could meet his daughter and spent a few days with her before I had to go back to London.

My main fear was if he didn't want to see her. What if he didn't care or didn't want to know her? He missed the first four years, what's to say he wouldn't want to miss the rest? But that wasn't like Morgan; that was never like Morgan.

"So I'm going to take you two to the hotel, you're going to stay there while I go to Morgan's apartment. I'll tell him, get it over and done with and then if it's what he wants, I'll bring him to the hotel to meet her."

"And if you come back with him, do you want me to disappear?"

"No, I want you to meet him." I smiled.

"Are you sure? I mean, these aren't the best circumstances."

"This is my own fault. I should have just told him four years ago when she was just a bump."

"But that _wasn't_ your fault. He needed to go and work a case. You didn't murder someone or organise for them to be called to a case, it just happened. Luck wasn't really on your side there."

"It never is." I shook my head.

"Mummy?" Ainsley asked me quietly, "My legs hurt." I lifted her up and Sarah took my bag voluntarily. "Where are we?"

"Virginia." I said quietly. She didn't know what we were doing here because I didn't want to get her hopes up with the slight possibility of Morgan rejecting her. That would break her heart so I just said we were going for a little trip. Sarah knew not to tell her anything, too.

"If he wants to meet her, do we see the rest of the team?" Sarah asked me quietly.

I nodded, "Yeah, I don't see why not."

"So Spencer then?" Her eyes were hopeful.

I stopped walking and looked at her with a small smirk, "What is that?"

"What?"

"So you, Sarah Dowling, are interested in Doctor Spencer Reid, the genius, the BAU's prodigy, the one and only—"

"Stop. I'm not interested, I just think he's cute and he's close to my age and he seems great based on what you've told me."

"You're 5 years apart. He's 32."

"That's close." She smiled.

"I'm only three years older than Morgan."

She raised her eyebrows, "Are you, Emily Prentiss, in love with Derek Morgan?"

"No." I shook my head and laughed, "People don't always fall in love with the father of their child."

"If you did love him, would you tell him before or after telling him about Ains?" She asked as we started walking again.

"Probably after." I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know, why?"

"Just curious."

We made our way outside and I hailed a cab. We went to the hotel and I went inside with them to make sure they checked in and knew where they were going. Sarah suffered from anxiety and she often felt very unsure about everything she did because of it. She's always had a bit of trouble talking to people she didn't know so I was happy to check in for us and make sure she felt okay with where she was.

"Can we watch TV?" Ainsley asked me as she ran in and jumped on the queen bed. There was a queen and a single.

"You can." I smiled at her. Sarah sat down on the end of the queen and turned it on. She looked up at me.

"Good luck."

"Thanks." I smiled, "Um…I'll text or call you with the results after I actually work up the courage to tell him."

She smiled, "Don't freak out."

I laughed to myself with no humour. I kissed Ainsley's cheek, "You listen to Sarah, okay? Just because we're not home doesn't mean she isn't in charge."

"A time for bed?" She asked me.

"9, 9:30 at the latest."

She nodded, "Okay, cool. Bye."

I went to walk out and stopped, "Oh, I'll leave my card." I put it on the table near the door, "You can order room service when you're hungry." I picked up the key card and walked out, closing the door behind me. I heard it lock automatically and I walked down the hall. I stepped into the elevator and got my phone out of my pocket. I found Morgan's contact and texted as I walked out on the ground floor.

" _You busy?"_

I hailed another cab and he replied after a few minutes of the drive. _"Just got home. Haven't heard from you for a while…are you okay?"_

I locked my phone without replying and waited patiently in silence. I handed the money to the cab driver and thanked him before stepping out and walking to the building. I walked in through the door. Normally you'd have to buzz and wait for whoever you were visiting to let you through but the lock was broken. It had been for years. No one in the building seemed to care, considering it was still broken after all this time. I walked up two floors and stood at his door, taking a few deep breaths.

I knocked three times quickly. I contemplated turning and running; this was my last chance. I looked behind me but turned back when I heard the locks on the door. It opened and I saw a shirtless Morgan on the other side. His eyes widened, "Emily! Hey!" He stepped to the side and motioned for me to come in. I walked in and he closed the door before hugging me.

"Hey." I said quietly in his arms. When we separated, I took my jacket off and hung it on the hook near the door where I always used to hang it.

He walked to the kitchen and motioned for me to follow. I trailed a step behind him and he turned the teakettle on. "Coffee?"

"Please," I smiled and sat down at the counter island, "So, how've you been?"

"Over the past four years? It's been one hell of a ride," He nodded, "I mean, my best friend left, and then she left again and never came back. Every time I mentioned going to see her, she always had something on even before she knew the timeframe. Then we got a new agent and she sits at your desk and it's just not the same. Garcia hates her, and I mean _hates_ her. I thought she'd like her but apparently not. JJ gets along with her but she'd never refer to her as a best friend like she does the rest of us. Reid denies it but he doesn't like her. Rossi doesn't even like her that much. Hell, Hotch doesn't. I certainly don't."

"What's her name?"

"Deanna Ferelli."

"Is she nice? What does she look like?"

"She has light brown hair, short, isn't nearly as good at her job or experienced as anyone else on the team. She's nice enough, but she isn't you."

"Well that's the point; you're _supposed_ to find someone that isn't me. Maybe she isn't who you should have recruited, considering no one likes her…but someone that isn't me is the ideal choice."

"What happened to you?" He asked. He had his back to my now as he poured the boiling water into a mug with the coffee. He added milk and stirred it. He remembered how I always had it.

"What?" I asked as he slid the mug over to me. He walked around the counter and sat beside me.

"What happened to you?" He repeated, "You disappeared. No one has heard from you in months, you never came back to visit, you just left our lives."

"There's been a lot going on lately, I literally have had no time on my hands to get back to anyone in the last few months. I never came to visit because Interpol is almost _always_ busy. I was lucky to get a few days now. I didn't intend on leaving your lives."

"You know that JJ is a mess? Her best friend, the one person she could count on with absolutely anything, never called her back, never answered her texts when she needed you to. She's been having a really hard time lately and she won't let any of us help her. She wants you."

I sighed and looked down at the coffee, "I'll go see her tomorrow."

"Garcia has a million photos of you around her office. Her phone background has been this one photo of the three of you for two years straight. She misses you like crazy. She's always talking about how any day now, Emily Prentiss would walk through those glass doors for us to see her again. Every morning, she looks at them for five minutes before going to her office with an upset frown. You'd think that after four years, they'd forget about the hope of seeing you again and just focus on when they used to see you but they just can't. None of us can, actually. When Gideon left, nothing like this happened. Reid was upset and still does get upset sometimes but we all moved on. When JJ left for a year, we survived. We didn't sit there and wait for the day for her to walk back in."

"I'm so sorry." I said quietly.

"Hotch tried to fix it but even he is a little different. Sometimes I watch him through the window on the days where we talk about you, he looks at those glass doors several times throughout the day. Rossi lost a daughter, Reid and I lost a best friend. Reid, he's doing okay when at work, but after hours, he thinks about you a lot."

Tears fell down my cheeks, "I didn't mean to ruin everything. I was going to come back but whenever I booked a plane ticket, I would have to cancel it.

He nodded, "Garcia tracked you once last year and saw the booked ticket. She was so excited, it was insane how elated she was, but then when she checked the next day, it was cancelled. I hadn't seen her cry that much since you left," He was looking at his coffee, "Hotch banned her from looking into you after that."

"I wanted to come back sooner, I really did."

"I'm sure you did." He nodded slowly.

"Morgan?"

"Yeah?"

"I…I have something—" I stopped when he looked up. His eyes had tears in them and from the moment they met mine, every thought inside my head disappeared. Everything was gone and replaced with nothing.

"You have something…?" He raised his eyebrows.

I didn't mean what I did next. I leant forwards and kissed him. Once I pulled away, he stared into my eyes in shock for a few seconds before returning the kiss. He lifted me from the chair and carried me to his room eventually and then…well…the night went on.

* * *

I woke early in the morning and jumped up from under his arm, waking him up in the process. I searched frantically for my clothes and he sat up. "What are you doing?"

"I need to go."

"What? I thought you had a few days…"

"I do, but I have Ain—someone…at a hotel waiting for me." I said quickly as I clipped my bra up and threw my shirt on. I realised once I had pants on that it was his shirt, not mine. I didn't know where mine was but this one was closer.

He sat back, "Please don't tell me you have a boyfriend."

I looked at him and hesitated. Do I lie and say I do? Well, it wouldn't be a lie, I did have a boyfriend but that wasn't why I was leaving. Do I say I don't and tell him about Ainsley now? I got distracted last night and I was freaking out now. I walked out without answering that and he stood, following me, sliding a pair of shorts on as he did. "Emily, talk to me."

"I don't have a boyfriend." I lied, shaking my head, "But I have to go and I _will_ call you. I will. I'll call JJ and Garcia and everyone on the team but I need to go."

"Are you going back to London?" He asked as he stood at the door that I had walked out of.

"I don't know yet. Maybe," I said, "Thanks for last night!" I called as I walked down the stairs. Tears fell from my eyes when I hailed a cab and made my way back to the hotel. What had I done? I changed my shirt, grabbed Sarah and Ainsley and ran. We got on the next flight back to London.


	4. Present Day

PRESENT DAY:

 **Prentiss**

I stood outside the Quantico precinct with Sarah on my right side and Ainsley on my left, holding my hand. We had been standing here for only a short while but it would still look unusual to anyone that was seeing us. I was standing motionless, staring through the doors. Anxiety and fear were the only things I was feeling right now. It was cool out today so my layers didn't look too out of the ordinary. I would, however, be wearing less if my baby bump hadn't developed earlier than it had with my first child.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Sarah asked quietly.

"I have to. It's not fair on him to have two children and not know about either. I should at least give him the _option_ to meet Ainsley and know this one when it's born."

"What does Mark think?"

I shook my head, "He's furious. I would be too if the situation were reversed. If he cheated on me and got a girl pregnant, I would have broken up with him. This is even worse because _I'm_ the pregnant one."

She shook her head, "What are the chances of sleeping with one man twice in your whole life and falling pregnant both times? Did you use protection?"

"Not the first time, but I triple checked three months ago."

"That sucks," She said, "Did you tell Mark about your resignation? Or that you were thinking of moving here?"

"No," I shook my head, "Apparently I've become quite the coward."

"Mummy, I'm bored. Can we go in?" Ainsley asked from my side.

"Two more minutes." I said to her.

"Are you scared?" Sarah asked, "Or just nervous?"

"I'm scared and nervous. I need to calm myself down before we go in so I don't have a panic attack."

"You'll do great, okay? He'll want to meet her and if he is half the guy you claim, he'll understand."

"I'm not so sure…" I said quietly. I sighed, "Okay, let's go." We walked inside and I got the visitor badges that we needed. I was greeted again, like I was four years ago, by the guards that still recognised me. Some even remembered my name. We went to the elevators and I hesitated before pressing the button. I waited impatiently, clicking my fingers to satisfy the need to fidget. The elevator doors opened and I panicked. Sarah gave me a light push and I walked in with Ainsley still holding my hand. I was excited to see my old team; I wasn't excited to tell Morgan what I needed to and I wasn't excited to see my replacement. No matter how many times I had told them all that they'd find a great agent, I didn't want them to. I didn't want them to forget about me. They probably had already; I hadn't contacted any one of them in months, even after I told Morgan that I would.

The doors opened on the sixth floor and we stepped out. We walked towards the glass doors and I hesitated.

"Do you want me to keep Ainsley around here until you call us?" Sarah asked.

"Uh…" I thought about it, "Could you sit over there with her and then I'll come get you when it's safe?"

"Safe?" She smiled.

I laughed at myself, "My palms are sweating. Sorry, when he's ready."

She nodded, "Sure." She lifted Ainsley up and walked through the glass doors, walking over to where I had pointed on the other side of the bullpen. From here, I could see them in the round table room. I took a deep breath and walked through the doors. I walked towards were my old desk was and it was empty again apart from the pencil holder that I had left with Garcia. It was back where it used to be. What happened to Deanna Ferelli, my replacement? Did she have her own office? Did someone from the team leave? No, they couldn't have. I could see the two unmistakable blondes from here. I could see Reid's face, Morgan's back to me. I couldn't see Hotch or Rossi but their names were still on their office doors. I walked up the steps by Hotch's office and heard an excited scream. I looked over and JJ appeared out the door of the conference room quickly.

"Emily!"

"JJ!" I replied with more excitement. I ran to her and she met me half way. We collided and fell to the ground in each other's arms at the corner from where it met outside of Rossi's office to the walkway to the room. We were in laughter and tears and we didn't move from each other on the ground. Four years. It had been four years since I had seen my best friend in person. Social media and online games and just a few web calls were never enough.

After about 5 minutes, we finally decided to part. We were still laughing and crying, though.

"Ow…I forgot that I'm not 25 anymore." JJ said.

I laughed, "I want to hug everyone else but I just hurt my back." She laughed too and we both sat up. She stood and pulled me up. I ran my hand through my hair to push it back and smiled wide at Garcia before running into the room and hugging her tightly.

"I missed you so much, my little cherub!" She said with tears streaming down her face. "Four years!"

"I know." I nodded as we parted. I wiped my cheeks and eyes before turning and crashing into Reid. He had a tear or two on his cheeks too and he returned my hug tighter than I had started with. I hugged Morgan for less time than the other three, considering I had seen him only three months ago. I hugged Rossi next and I didn't want to let go. Four years without seeing him was too long. Who knew you could get so attached to people whom were one of the least you expected to miss so much. Sure, I assumed I'd miss him, but not as much as I really did. I felt the same about Hotch and hugged him for longer than I ever had before.

I ended with hugging JJ again and crying again but I calmed myself down and we sat down. "Sorry for interrupting." I said once we were all seated.

"You didn't interrupt anything; we just finished debriefing." JJ said.

"Where's my replacement?" I asked curiously.

"I've told you, we could never _replace_ you." Garcia said, "But I assume you're talking about Ferelli?"

"I am." I nodded.

"How'd you know about her?" Reid asked.

"Morgan." I motioned to him.

JJ raised her eyebrows, "So you've talked to him in the last three or four months and not me? No phone call, no text…"

"You can dial a number," I smirked, "No, I'm sorry. Life is actually really shit, I've come to realise. Well, not completely…but almost everything in my life has gone to shit so I've had so much to do and I could never find the time that suited both one of you and me at the same time and I'm already exhausted and getting next to no sleep." I shook my head.

"Yeah, you look exhausted." Rossi nodded. "Dangerously exhausted, actually…"

"I'm fine." I brushed him off.

"What in your life is so shit?" Garcia asked, "I thought London was what you wanted."

"It was…for a few months…" I thought about how to word this without giving anything away, "But then something….happened and it threw me off completely and then Interpol was crazy and apparently I'm not so good at my job anymore because I just couldn't do it. My team wasn't any help, they were different and they didn't use the word 'unsub' and we didn't have a literal genius to tell us anything off the top of his head and no matter how long I was there, the accents. I never got used to them and they got irritating because they pronounced things different and I kind of just wanted to do really shit so they'd send me back here."

"Oh look, a vacant desk…" Garcia smirked.

I smiled and shook my head, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"…I'm not up to that. Then, after I was about done, something else came up a few months ago and my boyfriend dumped me, my job is no longer existent and I left. I left London, I have no job, no boyfriend, my—" I stopped before saying "my daughter is confused", "And everything is just…urgh!"

"You know you have an accent, right?" Hotch asked me.

"What? I do? Ah shit. And I had next to no friends in London because every time I met someone, all I could think was that they weren't you guys and they couldn't compare to you guys so I just completely cut myself off from the world other than my job and Mark and my—one or two other people and then I developed some depressive disorder…I don't know, it's gone now. Basically, two months ago marked the time that I gave up on London."

"Are you moving back here?" JJ asked hopefully.

"Maybe." I said, "I don't know yet. I have to take…something into consideration before I make any life changing decisions."

"Why'd your boyfriend break up with you?" Morgan asked curiously. There was suspicion in his voice, too.

I laughed to myself with no humour, "Oh, you'll know soon." My phone rang and I looked at the caller ID, "Speak of the devil…" I accepted the call and held my phone to my ear, "Hey."

"Em, where are you? Are Sarah and Ainsley with you?"

"Virginia. Yes, they're with me. When are they not?"

"Well where's Michelle? She was supposed to be here a half hour ago."

"I gave Michelle a paid week off because I'm not at my house. Why are _you_ at my house?"

"I came to pick up some stuff."

"Don't you dare take me CD's."

"Which ones?"

"Any of them. I don't care how invaluable they are or how little I listen to them, I know my CD's and if any of them are gone, I'll report you for theft."

"That's so immature."

"Well you've got to do what you've got to do to stay in the game."

"Whatever. I've got to go and look through the basement for whatever's mine. Bye."

"Have a nice life." I hung up and put my phone down, "Arsehole."

"Who's Michelle?" Garcia asked.

"My housekeeper." I answered easily.

"And what is it you keep going to mention before swiftly changing your sentence to avoid the topic?" Rossi asked.

"What?" I acted oblivious.

"You've done it a lot. "Something…hesitation…happened", "something else came up a few months ago", that's not quite the same but it still showed that you were avoiding saying it, "my..." change of sentence, "my…" change of sentence, "I have to take…hesitation…something into consideration". You're keeping something from us and you're doing it very badly."

I cleared my throat and looked around at them. When my eyes met Morgan's, I knew I couldn't just tell him in front of everyone. "I don't really want to talk about it right now…" I said.

"Are you okay?" Hotch asked, "Health wise? Physical and mental?"

"Oh yeah." I nodded, "I'm fine." I assured.

"Okay." He nodded, "Then you don't have to tell us yet if it isn't serious."

"Thanks. So, enough about me. How are all of you?" I changed the subject off me. About a half hour of conversation lasted until they all finished filling me in. "Uh…excuse me. I'll be two seconds; I just have to make a call." I said, standing up and looking at the text I received from Sarah. I walked out of the room and called her from across the bullpen. I didn't want them to see me near them or they'd know instantly.

"Why are you _calling_ me? We're looking at each other right now…" Sarah answered.

"I don't want them to suspect anything yet. It's harder than I planned and it might take a while. You can take her out for lunch or something if either of you are hungry. There's a good diner down the street. Good food and great service."

"Okay; just call me when you tell him and if he wants to see her. I'll bring her right back."

"Stay safe." I said before hanging up. The team was watching me so I turned my back to them as I found Morgan's contact.

" _I need to talk to you privately."_ I texted.

I looked at my phone like I was reading a text or typing one and after a minute or two, Morgan walked around the catwalk to me, "I'm assuming this is a secret so I said that _I_ needed to talk to _you_ privately about something and Rossi offered his office so…" He opened the office door and motioned for me to walk in. He drew the blinds down so they couldn't see us and he closed the door. "So what's going on?"

I took a deep breath, looked him in the eyes and froze.


	5. Chapter 5

**Prentiss**

 _I took a deep breath, looked him in the eyes and froze._

A short while passed as I stared at his dark eyes. He stared back at me expectantly and it didn't take him long to realise that I was panicking inside, "Hey, Emily, calm down. You can tell me, you know that." He put his hand on my arm comfortingly.

I moved away from his touch, "You're not going to want to be anywhere near me when I tell you this…"

"What?"

"…Sit down." I motioned to the couch that sat against the wall directly opposite Rossi's desk.

He didn't want to sit but he knew it would make me feel better so he sat down, "Seriously, what's going on?"

"I'm just going to ask, can you please not speak until I'm completely finished explaining everything? Promise me?"

He nodded with a confused look, "I promise…"

"And please know that I am so, _so_ sorry and I never meant to leave it for so long." He nodded and waited for me to continue. I stared pacing in front of him to calm my nerves.

"Emily, you're scaring me…"

"Oh, no. It's nothing bad," I shook my head, "It's just really difficult and I have no idea how to tell you so I'm just going to go straight to the point. Four years ago, the night before I left for London, do you remember what happened?"

"We slept together?" He said it as a question, as if asking if that's what I was referring to.

"We did," I nodded, "And we were drunk and we weren't as smart as we could have been…"

His eyes widened, "No…" He caught on. "Don't tell me—Emily, what is going on?"

"Well…we didn't use a condom, apparently…and I wasn't on the pill at the time and I'm not sure whether I was lucky or not yet, but I kind of…you kind off…I got pregnant."

His eyes bulged, "Are you serious!?" He stood up in anger. He was furious. "Did you keep it?"

"Yes, I kept it…her. I kept her."

He was speechless as tears filled his eyes and he blinked them away, "You're not joking."

I had tears in my eyes. This was terrifying me. "I wouldn't joke about this."

"You're telling me that we have a child together and you never told me!?"

I went to speak but he stormed out. He didn't know where to go or what to do so he went back towards the round table room where the team still sat. I ran after him, "Morgan—"

"No! How could you—"

"I was scared!" I snapped, "I was in London and I had just started at Interpol. You were here in a completely different country and you had everything going for you. You still do. I said I was sorry that I kept it from you for so long but I came here twice to tell you but it just never came out."

"I cannot believe you!" He yelled.

"I'm sorry!" I had tears streaming down my face, "I really am."

He sat down and dropped his head into his hands, the stress, shock, anger and confusion all very visible in his body language.

"What's going on—"

"Nothing!" He snapped at Garcia in anger and frustration. He took a breath and looked at her shocked and slightly scared face, "Sorry, baby girl. Nothing is happening."

"Look, I don't expect you to do anything about it. I've got it covered; I just thought you might have wanted to know."

"I did want to know. Four years ago would have been a better time to tell me."

"I was—"

"Scared. Yeah." He finished the sentence and shook his head.

"Hey, you're not the most approachable of people," I defended myself, "How was I supposed to know how you'd react to it?"

He sat back and looked at me in disbelief, "Not the most approachable? How many years have you known me, Emily?"

"That doesn't mean anything." I shook my head.

"So what now? You're going to tell me and run off again? Go back to London? Or maybe you'll choose a place where I won't be able to contact you."

"I told you before; I don't know what I'm doing yet. I had more but seeing your reaction to this, I'm not so sure I want to tell you."

"There's _more_!?"

I looked down and ran my fingers through my hair. "Wow, I just noticed that it's shorter. Me likey." Garcia smirked at me.

I forced a smile to her, "Thanks."

"No, don't change the subject. What else is there?" He asked me more forcefully.

"Do you remember three months ago?" I asked hesitantly, looking down.

"Yeah…"

"Well I came then to tell you about…" I skipped saying it in front of the team but he knew what I meant, "But then you kind of distracted me and—"

"Wait, you were here three months ago?" JJ cut me off, "And you didn't see anyone but him?"

I went to apologise but Morgan spoke before I could, "JJ, please let her finish. I think I'm about to have a heart attack if it's what I think it is…"

"Well…I cheated on Mark and that's part of the reason he broke up with me. The other part was because…well…he was elated that I was pregnant…until he found out it wasn't his."

Morgan groaned and dropped his head onto the desk.

"Oh my god!" JJ said loudly with excitement, jumping up and running to me. She hugged me tightly, "I can't believe it! Wait…" She turned and looked at Morgan, then back to me and repeated the switch several times, "Oh…it just clicked…" He lifted his head and shook it at her.

"There's going to be a little Emily-Derek running around?" Garcia asked with a huge grin, "I'm so excited!"

"Morgan?" He was silent and was staring motionless at nothing, "Please say something; this is scaring the hell out of me." He still didn't reply, "You don't need to be involved or anything if you don't want…"

"You want me to miss its first four years and then maybe come into the picture after that?"

I looked down and sighed, "You've been in the picture since day one…literally. I have a photo of all of you and I show her every night and she sleeps with it under her pillow," Tears welled in my eyes, "She calls you her "protectors". She's convinced that if she, Sarah or mummy is in trouble, you'll be there to rescue us. She talks to everyone before I turn the light out and every night she kisses daddy and wishes to wake up and see him in the morning before sliding it back under her pillow." Tears were streaming down my face now, "When we were leaving London, she forgot to bring the photo and she cried and screamed her little heart out until I turned the car around, went back to the house and got it for her."

"Oh, now I'm just completely confused. Are you pregnant now or did you already have a baby?" Rossi asked.

I looked at Morgan to see what he wanted them to know. "Both." He answered.

"And is the first one yours too?" Hotch asked. We both nodded and he sat back, raising his eyebrows, "This is crazy."

"So this is why you didn't come back for four years." Rossi concluded. I nodded and wiped the tears.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me…" JJ said quietly.

"Don't worry, she didn't tell me either," Morgan said, "And the kid has half of my DNA."

"I know this is slightly off topic, but who's Sarah?" Reid asked.

"She's like a babysitter…kind of. I pay her to take care of Ainsley when I'm at work or have somewhere to be but she lives with us permanently and she's just my best friend."

"Ainsley?" Morgan asked quietly. I nodded, "That's what I always wanted to call my daughter if I ever had one…"

I smiled, "I know…that's why her name is Ainsley. Do you want to meet her or not because I'm tired and I'm going to go back to the hotel if you don't."

He hesitated, not sure whether he was ready to see her or not. "Well, I want to…and the rest of us want to, so yes, he does." Garcia said.

I smiled, "I'll text Sarah to bring her." I said as I took my phone from my pocket.

* * *

After about 10 minutes of answering questions, I saw Sarah and Ainsley walk back into the bullpen through the windows. I stood up and walked down the catwalk. Ainsley walked up the steps and ran to me, "Mummy!" She ran into my arms and I lifted her up, smiling at her. She put her arms around my neck to hug me and I kissed her hair, looking at Sarah.

"How'd it go?" She asked.

"He was furious, speechless and happy all the same. I don't really know where I stand right now but all six of them are pretty excited."

She nodded, "The second part is good, right?"

"Yeah," I nodded with a smile, "Come on." I motioned for her to follow me and I walked back towards the round table room. Ainsley kept her arms around me and her head was resting on my shoulder.

"Sarah, team. Team, Sarah." I introduced. She smiled and shook their hands as they all introduced themselves individually. I crouched down and stood Ainsley in front of me as they did. "What's this?" I asked, motioning to the folded paper in her hand.

"The picture," She said quietly, unfolding it and showing me the smiling team with me in the middle, "Our protectors, because they do the good."

"Do you want to meet them in real life?" I asked her with a small smile.

Her eyes widened, "That's scary." I wondered if she had realised them all standing to her side in the room.

"And what do we say before we do something scary?"

"We say: I am strong, I am smart, I am beautiful, I am loved and I can do it!"

"Nice!" I held my hand up and she high fived me with a big, proud smile. I turned her so she faced the team but I stayed at her height by her side. Her eyes widened as she looked at them all.

"You're all like her idols," Sarah said quietly to them, "Like superheroes."

They were in sort of a line, Morgan was at one end and Hotch was at the other. She looked at Hotch first and pointed, "Hotch, Rossi, Reid, JJ, Garcia and…Daddy!" She ran forwards to him quickly and he dropped to his knees. She ran into his arms and he hugged her back, closing his eyes to try and stop the tears that I still saw had fallen. My eyes teared up again and I cried at the sight. I had waited four years to be able to see this and the time was finally here. She had dropped the photo of them on her rush to him and I picked it up and stepped back to the doorway, looking at it. No one looked different. JJ's hair was longer, Garcia's hair was still blonde, Reid looked slightly older but not by much. Hotch, Rossi and Morgan looked the same. I had changed the most out of everyone. Granted, I had a rather recent child and I was pregnant with another at the moment.

She eventually moved from him to Garcia, then to JJ, Reid, Rossi and ended with Hotch. She ran back to me after her hugs and clung to my leg. I put my hand on the back of her head and caressed her hair. "Why don't you tell them your _full_ name?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, "Prentiss or Morgan?"

"…Stick with Prentiss for now…" I said quietly and glanced at Morgan. She took one step in front of me and looked at them all, her eyes landing on JJ. She knew her middle name was after her.

"Ainsley Jennifer Prentiss."

JJ cupped her hands over her mouth as a few tears ran down her cheeks. She moved to me quickly and hugged me tightly. I returned her gesture and smiled to myself as she whispered a very quiet "thank you" in my ear.

* * *

Sarah and I had sat down in the room with the others and talked more. Ainsley was sitting on JJ's lap at the moment, talking nonstop about something I wasn't paying attention to.

"Emily…" JJ got my attention. I looked up.

"Hm?"

"Are you okay? I said your name like three times."

"I'm fine; I was just thinking…and feeling a little nauseous."

"Well what is this your daughter is telling me about Mark being "mean" to you?"

"What?" I glanced at Sarah and then moved my eyes back to her.

"She said he's mean to you and he hurts you." She said as she put Ainsley down. Ainsley ran around the table to Morgan and he lifted her up, smiling at her and then turning his attention back to this conversation.

"Oh, no, she misunderstood." I lied.

"Em…" Sarah said quietly, "Just tell them…at least you might have some much needed protection if he decides to come looking for you."

I shook my head and glared at her, "Thanks for throwing me under the bus there."

"You taught Ains to speak up if anything like that ever happened to her…"

"I also make her say that small oath every morning and before she does what scares her. _I_ don't say that oath every morning or before I do something that scares me. I just cry."

"That's because you're pregnant." She rolled her eyes.

"Emily…" Rossi said quietly, urging me to explain to them what Ainsley was talking about.

I sighed and looked down, "He gets violent when he's drunk." I shrugged my shoulders.

"But he's _always_ drunk," Sarah added, already giving up on trying to make me tell them, "She's left him twice in the past five months and both times, he has forced her into coming back. It's not a great environment for Ainsley to be around, either. She sees it a lot."

"Are you done?" I asked her once she stopped speaking.

"Unless I think of something else." She nodded.

"So…what? Did he hit you? What else?" Reid asked me.

"I don't know…" I shrugged my shoulders, "He was just…him."

"He beat her, he abused her emotionally and mentally as well and he raped her once or twice."

"No he didn't." I shook my head.

"It doesn't matter whether you're in a relationship with him or not; if you don't give consent, it's rape. You said no, you cried and he hurt you."

"I am this close to kicking you out of this room." I said to her, holding my index and thumb dangerously close to each other.

"Hey, I'm helping here."

"You really aren't. Let's change the subject."

"You know, I never really used to see you as the motherly type…" Garcia said, "But then when she ran up to you on the walkway and you asked her to say that little oath thing, you're like the mother children always want."

"She's too protective." Sarah said.

"You haven't seen the things I've seen." I said to her, defending myself.

"Okay, dinner tonight? Partners and children included." Rossi asked everyone. They all accepted and looked at Sarah and I.

"It's a Friday night and none of you had premade plans with partners?"

"I'm still the only one with a partner and we live a pretty miserable life." JJ said, raising her hand.

"None of you? Really?" I looked at Hotch, "What happened to Beth?"

"Long gone." He shook his head.

I looked at Garcia, "Kevin?"

"No." She shook her head too.

I looked at Morgan, "Come on, you're always seeing someone."

"…Not for three months…" He said quietly. I felt the awkwardness fill the room instantly after he spoke. I tried my best to ignore it, but they all felt it too.

"Wow…" I looked around at them.

"Was that a yes to dinner?" Rossi asked.

"Oh, sorry, I got distracted. Yes, we'll be there."


	6. Chapter 6

**Prentiss**

I sat in between Sarah and Ainsley. Morgan was at Ainsley's other side and the team, Will, Jack and Henry went around the circular table in the restaurant. Hotch was directly across from me and seemed to enjoy my presence today more than over the five years I worked with them. They were all looking at menus and I was trying to get Ainsley to tell me what she wanted.

"I don't want dinner." She said to me.

"Well you're having it so what do you want to eat?"

"But I'm not hungry."

"You are hungry," I rolled my eyes, "Pick something or I'll pick for you."

She pointed to the kids' meals, "Nuggets."

"Thank you." I closed the menu and put it back where the others sat.

"Sorry…" She said quietly, "Looking down."

"No honey, it's okay." I kissed her hair and looked at Sarah when she tapped me.

"Are you eating?" She asked me quietly.

"No, not tonight. I'm not hungry." I lied. I was hungry, but Mark had taken all of my money and with what I had left, I had to pay Sarah and buy food and essentials for both her and Ainsley. I couldn't afford to eat.

She leant over and whispered in my ear so no one heard, "Do you want me to pay for you?" She knew.

"No," I shook my head, "That's not—no, but thank you for offering."

"So I'm right?"

"Don't do this here, Sarah." I said quietly, warning in my eyes as they met hers. She knew I didn't want the team to know anything about my troubles, not financial and not anything else. The waiter came to take their orders and I just asked for more water. "I just want a beer." I complained as he walked away.

"Well, it's your own fault for getting knocked up," Sarah said, smirking at me, "You were only supposed to come to tell him about Ainsley, not have a second child with him."

"You can shut up now…" I glared at her.

Conversation filled the table for a while before their food came. They started eating and I was making sure that Ainsley was too.

"So why aren't you eating?" JJ asked me after a while.

"I'm not hungry." I smiled to cover the lie. She nodded and silence fell momentarily.

"This is killing me," Garcia cut the silence, "Do you just have a thing for dangerous guys or was Mark nice to start with?"

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Doyle, Mark…" She tilted her head.

"Clyde…" Sarah added quietly.

JJ gasped, "You dated Clyde!?"

"Clyde's dangerous?" Reid asked.

"He slapped her a few times." She said, looking at me.

"He was drunk and they're not dangerous, I just drive them insane…literally."

"No, you have a thing for bad guys." Rossi nodded.

"...I slept with Morgan twice?"

"Not the same because you didn't date him." Garcia shook her head.

"Fine," I sighed, "You win," I looked at Ainsley, "Eat."

* * *

After a long, tiring, passive aggressive argument, I gave into Rossi and Sarah, Ainsley and I stayed at his mansion last night instead of a hotel and everyone else had stayed too. They had a few more drinks after the kids went to bed and I stuck with water. Reid and Sarah had been talking all night. She was flirting with him and I definitely knew it. Her posture was always more upright and her shoulders were always back so her boobs appeared bigger.

I woke up around 8 and had a shower as Ainsley slept and she woke up when I kissed her forehead, "Hey sweetheart, it's morning."

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, "Mummy? Can we stay here forever?"

"This house? No. This state? Maybe…"

"Do you think they like me?" She asked quietly.

"The team? Honey, I think that they absolutely love you. Now get up, come on." She climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom. I turned the water on for her and she had a shower. I let her shower on her own but I kept the door open and I checked on her frequently. She called me when she was finished and I turned the water back off and gave her a towel. She dried herself and picked her own outfit before walking out of the room with me.

"Can I go wake Sarah up?" She asked. Sarah had a habit of sleeping in if I didn't need her to take care of Ainsley in the morning. I nodded and she ran off to the next room. I went downstairs and Rossi gave me a cup of coffee.

"I figured you'd never give up coffee so it's decaf."

"You're ruining my life, Rossi," I joked as I took it, "Thanks."

"Do you have plans for today?" He asked me curiously as Hotch, JJ and Will walked in. Jack and Henry were in the next room.

"No," I shook my head, "I figured I'd just take Ainsley to the park or something but it depends on whether Morgan wants to spend some time with her or not."

"There's a big petting zoo today down at the central town park. We're all going if you want to come." JJ said, taking a filled cup from Rossi.

"I bet that's real coffee…" I said under my breath, "You're going to a petting zoo?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Henry." She rolled her eyes.

"Ah…the things parents do for their children." I smiled as I sipped the coffee. I could definitely tell that it was decaf.

"So yes or no?"

"Sure." I shrugged my shoulders. Reid walked in then and I smirked at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Did you get lucky last night?" I asked casually.

"What?" He gave me a confused look.

I put my coffee mug down and gave him an obvious look, "Reid, please do not tell me that you didn't know that Sarah was flirting with you all night."

"No she wasn't."

"Yes, she really was," JJ nodded, "She was practically putting her boobs in your face."

"I didn't notice." He shrugged his shoulders.

"…She likes star wars and star trek and all that nerdy stuff…" I said quietly.

"But she's pretty…" He said.

"Wow, thanks for saying that nerds can't be pretty." Garcia said as she walked passed him. Rossi handed her a mug like he had everyone else and she thanked him. "You, my love, are a godsend." She said to him.

"If I had a dollar for every time someone told me that…"

"You'd be one rich bastard…oh wait…" I smirked at him.

"Oh, four years and a child later and you're still as sarcastic."

We all laughed and Morgan walked in. He grabbed my arm and pulled me away, "Wait, ah." I reached for my coffee before letting him pull me away, drinking it as we went.

He pulled me outside and closed the front door. "What do I have to do? I will do anything, just say what it is."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him, "You almost made me spill my coffee."

"To be in Ainsley's life and be a part of that one," He motioned to my stomach, "What do I have to do?"

"You need to not hate me." I nodded.

"That's it? You don't want me to pay for anything or take her—"

"Morgan, the only thing you need to pay for is things you buy for her voluntarily. Toys, stuffed animals, clothes, whatever you want. All you need to do is be there for her, make sure she knows you and knows that you love her. You need to make her feel important and you need to be her father. It's not as hard as it all sounds."

"Are you sure? You don't want me to clean your house and your car or buy you jewellery or a dog and walk it for you daily?"

"No, but if you ever buy her a dog, I will return it to you."

"No dogs, got it."

"No animals in general. I can't afford to keep one and I don't even have a house. If you buy her a pet, it stays at your house."

"She can visit me?" He asked.

"Of course she can. She can stay with you on weekends if that's what you want. You can be as big of a part of her life as you want to be. The only thing you can't do is break her heart once you become a part of it. All I ask is you make her happy."

He smiled and kissed my cheek, "Thank you," He opened the door and went back inside. I followed and we went back to the kitchen.

I kissed Ainsley's hair as I walked passed her, "Did you say your oath this morning?"

"Yes." She smiled at me.

"Can you say it again? I want to hear it." Garcia asked her.

"I am strong, I am smart, I am beautiful, I am loved and I can do it!"

Garcia made small squeak of a noise, "You're so adorable."

"Does she know about the second?" JJ asked me.

"Not yet; I don't know how to tell her. Where's Sarah?"

"With Reid outside." JJ smirked.

I walked to the window and looked out at them. They were sitting together on the grass and laughing. "He looks so happy." I smiled.

"What about Sarah?" Garcia asked.

"She's always happy. Something's different though."

Garcia walked to my side and looked at them, "Love at first sight, you think?"

I looked at her with a wide smile, "Give them some time to get to know each other before you plan their wedding."

She hugged me, "I missed you."

"You have no idea how much I missed all of you." I whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

**Prentiss**

We had spent all day at the park. The petting zoo was large and the kids loved it. The ones who weren't parents sat at a table not far from the cages and Ainsley pulled both Morgan and I with her. Hotch watched over Jack from the table and Henry had pulled both Will and JJ with him. She had clung to Morgan all day and I felt my eyes fill with tears several times when I saw him playing with her or placing kisses to her cheeks or forehead or when they both had wide smiles. I had wanted them to meet and know each other for four years and it was happening only now because of me. I was never going to make the same mistake with the one growing inside me now.

I was sitting in Rossi's living room with everyone again but Reid and Sarah were nowhere to be found. I was about to get up and find them before I heard two sets of footsteps walking downstairs. They were both dressed up as they walked through silently towards the door.

"Hey, stop." I said before the left the room. Sarah stopped and turned around slowly. Reid turned casually, "Where are you going?" I fought the smile growing on my lips.

"…Out." She replied vaguely. I smirked. "Shut up." She said to me as Reid walked out.

"I didn't say anything." I shook my head with a huge grin.

"But you're thinking it."

"…Do you want some money for a hotel room?"

Her eyes widened, "You can't afford to eat, let alone a hotel room." She said before running out. My eyes widened. That was the worst thing she'd ever done.

The whole team looked at me. "Is that true?" JJ asked.

"No." I shook my head.

"Mummy gets sick sometimes because she doesn't eat a lot." Ainsley said.

"No I don't." I said quietly as I lifted her up to take her upstairs.

"I just realised how alike you look. She's like the spitting image of you, except she's no way near as pale and she has Morgan's eyes." Garcia said.

I nodded and looked at Ainsley, "Say goodnight."

"Goodnight." She said to them all. Morgan stood up and walked upstairs with us. Rossi had insisted that we stay another night here. The team had been talking about how they were afraid that I'd run back to London again earlier. I wasn't supposed to hear them but that's why I didn't argue with Rossi again about tonight. I got Ainsley to get changed into her pyjamas and then I put her to bed. Morgan kissed her forehead and walked out of the room. I kissed her cheek and brushed her hair behind her ear before walking out and turning the light out as I closed the door over, leaving it open ajar. I turned and saw Morgan standing near the railing, waiting for me.

"You're having financial problems?" He asked.

"No, I'm not." I shook my head as I walked back downstairs. I figured he'd drop the subject for now if we were with everyone else but I was wrong.

"Emily, come on." He said as I sat back down.

"No." I tried to sound sincere.

"How much do you need?" He asked me.

I raised my eyebrows, "I don't need anything, Morgan."

"How much is in your bank account?"

"That's confidential."

"How much?" He pushed.

"Plenty."

"Emily—"

"I don't want your money, Morgan! I have more than enough to pay Sarah and more than enough to support Ainsley."

"And the other one?"

"That doesn't matter yet; it isn't born."

"You need to feed yourself to support it right now. Can you afford doctor appointments and—"

"Stop!" I cut him off, "This is my life and you walked out of it four years ago."

" _You_ left, not me."

"Yeah, well you didn't exactly ask me to stay." I walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. I poured some scotch into a glass and drank it back. I poured another and JJ walked in as I drank it.

"Stop!" She ran forwards and took the glass and bottle of scotch, "What the hell are you doing!?" She put the scotch back in the cupboard and rinsed the glass out as I sat down. "Are you trying to kill your baby?"

"It won't kill it." I said in a tired voice.

"I'm pretty sure it will. Sarah told me that you had an increased risk of stillbirth and miscarriage and this will not help."

"I'm too far along to miscarry."

"Stillbirth." She reminded, "Does Morgan know?"

"No, because it isn't important."

"Emily, issues with the previous pregnancy and this one isn't great. That puts you at huge risks and with your age…"

"My age has nothing to do with it, JJ." I rolled my eyes.

"Why won't you let us help you?"

"I don't need help." I shook my head.

"You have no job, no boyfriend to rely on for anything, you have to use the little money you have to pay Sarah and care for Ainsley. I'm betting that Morgan's right and you can't afford to go to the doctor or do anything that could potentially risk injury that would cost you even more."

"…I never relied on Mark; he relied on me." I said quietly.

"And he took your money for alcohol and drugs and gambling. Garcia looking into it…" She gave me an apologetic smile, "Sell your house and everything in London, move back here. Come back to the BAU but stay out of the field until at least after you give birth. Be a media liaison; you don't need to do much involving danger then."

"JJ." I shook my head.

"Why can't you? You need a job, we love you, you're a great agent and we need one to fill the spot."

"You need an agent who can do what the job requires. I can't be in the field and I'm not a great profiler anymore; my whole career is dead."

"No, you're still a magnificent profiler. All you have to do is travel with us and work from the stations. No field work, no danger, no guns, nothing like that."

I shook my head, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't!"

"Emily, please," She said calmly, "Just tell me what is going on."

"I'll get a job at a bar or something but I can't work in your team again."

" _Our_ team. No matter where you go, you're still one of us. I just need one legitimate, not ridiculous answer to why you're so against this."

I sighed and looked away. Do I tell her or do I keep it to myself? It wouldn't make a different to the situation either way. I checked behind me before I spoke, "JJ, I can't be that close to Morgan again." I kept my voice low.

"What?"

"There's just something about the father of your children…it changes the way you feel about things."

"…Are you in love with him?" She asked quietly.

I closed my eyes and looked down, "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I don't know what love feels like when it's someone who doesn't love you back. Ian loved me and that's how I knew that I loved him. I'm lost to what I feel here."

"I think you love him," She said quietly, "but I also think that you can't just let that rule your life. You won't get paid near as much at a bar than you would with us. You'd be in more danger at a bar, honestly. Please, Emily. We all have a feeling that you're going to leave soon and we can't lose you again. We thought we'd survive and be able to move on and live knowing that you were okay and occasionally talking to you on the phone or visiting but we were wrong. It's so damn hard without you here. I almost left the BAU, Em," Tears were in her eyes, "I thought I could do it but then my best friend left and she didn't call often, she didn't come back to even visit me for more than a day and I was miserable. I had to see a therapist because the stress that I caused myself because of it and I almost left my family and my life."

"Your family?"

"The team, and Will and I almost split…twice. And the team seems like usual and as close as we used to be now but we're not. We hardly see each other outside of work and when we are working, we all go individually now. We just can't deal with each other because we're all silently thinking about that one agent that's gone and we all know that our family isn't whole anymore. The whole team is drifting apart and it's killing all of us.  
"Let us help you, stay with me or Rossi or Morgan or someone, come back to the BAU, work with us again. You know you miss it."

"I do miss it, but I don't know if I can handle being around him so often."

"There are always a few things you don't want to do but you have to, to achieve what you need in life. Just see this as a small challenge that you'll either overcome or you'll go through with. Maybe you'll both fall in love with each other and have more little babies."

"I don't want more kids," I shook my head, "I didn't even want one until she was born. I obviously wouldn't change her or how things turned out for the world; I just wish I could go back three months and not do what I did."

"Then you might not be here. Ainsley might never have known her father or her "protectors", you might still be with Mark as he abuses you and takes everything from you, you might—"

"He wasn't always abusive. When he was sober and in a good mood, he was the sweetest guy," I shook my head, "He was everything a girl ever wants in a boyfriend, a soul mate. Unfortunately, he wasn't the same when he was drunk or high or in a bad mood," I looked down in thought, remembering all those times he had showered Ainsley, Sarah and I with gifts because he won big the night before and blew his winnings on us. I smiled to myself, "He was amazing sometimes."

"When you think about someone who you'd love, who would not only be amazing to you and Ainsley sometimes, but _all_ the time, who do you see?"

My lips parted slightly as I took a breath. I saw Morgan, but I was not going to say that. "No one."

She nodded, "It's Morgan. It's always been Morgan. From day one, he was always talking about you and how amazing you were as a person and a profiler nonstop. You never realised just how often you'd talk about him on our girls' nights when I would talk about Will and Garcia would talk about whichever one she was with at the time. You _always_ told us a hilarious story about Morgan, every time. I kind of miss being in the field and seeing the two of you exchange those glances that only the two of you would show to each other. I always used to think it was just a special bond thing in your friendship, partnership, but no, it was just that the both of you were in love and never realised it."

"JJ, do not a single word about this to anyone, ever." I said to her, looking up to her eyes. She nodded to confirm and she poured me a glass or water. I drank it slowly and Hotch walked in not long afterwards.

"Prentiss?" He asked me. I sighed and looked over my shoulder, waiting for him to continue, "The team is going to throw some money together for you. We want you to sell whatever property you have in London and we want you to move back here. Come back to the BAU and work with us."

I looked at JJ and she nodded. I looked back at his hopeful eyes, "…I'll think about it." I said quietly.

JJ groaned, "Come on; did that conversation not convince you of anything?"

"Enough, JJ," I said before drinking the rest of the water, "I'm going to bed."


	8. Chapter 8

**Prentiss**

"Mummy? Wake up!" Ainsley jumped on me a few times, trying to get me up. I ignored her and put my hand out, gently pushing her off. "Come on!"

"Ainsley, let me sleep." I said, irritation in my voice.

She sighed dramatically and jumped down from the bed. She walked to the door and opened it, walking out after leaving it open ajar. A few seconds passed before Morgan ran in quickly, "Emily?" He asked with such apprehension. He put his hand on my back as I lay on my stomach.

I groaned, "What?"

"Oh my god," He sighed and sat on the bed beside me, taking a few breaths, "Ainsley came in and said mummy wasn't waking up."

"Mummy's awake; she's just not getting up." I said as I lifted a pillow from beneath me and put it over my head and ears. His hand was still in the small of my back. As he stood up, it moved down slowly and softly before he was upright. The touch sent shivers down my spine. He took Ainsley's hand and walked out and I was left lying there, trying to feel that touch again.

Sarah came in after a short while. She pulled the pillow away from my head and hit me with it, "Get up."

"Why?" I asked, burying my head in the pillow beneath me.

"Because it's late morning and you need to get up sometime," She said. I rolled over and ignored her. She clicked her tongue quietly, "If you get up, I'll tell you about last night and how it went and how I got lucky…"

I jumped up quicker than I ever had, "Let me have a very fast shower and get changed. Then you can tell JJ, Garcia and I." I said as I walked to the bathroom.

"Good morning to you to!" She called after I closed the door. I had the fastest shower in my existence and got changed very quickly before walking downstairs, excited to hear everything. She was sitting in the living room with the others and talking to Ainsley.

"I just remembered that I don't like you right now…" I said to her once I walked in, remembering last night when she told them about my financial difficulties before leaving.

"But I helped, didn't I?"

"No," I shook my head, "You made everything worse."

"I did not." She rolled her eyes.

"Really? Because Morgan and I aren't talking now. I argued with him and JJ and I _almost_ argued with Hotch."

"…She said something about it too." She pointed to Ainsley. Obviously someone had told her about the happenings after she left.

"Yeah, she's four, Sarah…"

"Doesn't matter anymore, they know now. I lied to you upstairs by the way, it didn't happen."

"What?" My shoulders slumped and my lips parted in disappointment.

"It was the only way you were going to get up." She shrugged her shoulders.

"I hate you. I quite literally hate you," Even I noticed the accent in my voice then, "Does anyone else find my accent annoying? Because I can hardly hear it and I do."

"I like it." JJ smiled.

"You sound so posh, it's great." Garcia agreed.

"I need coffee." I said as I walked through.

"Decaf only!" Rossi called as I walked through.

"You're not my real father!" I called back and smiled, amusing myself. After a few seconds, he came in and took the pot from my hand.

"No." He put it back and picked up the one beside it. He poured it in the cup and gave the cup to me.

"I hate you, too." I said as I took it.

"Well, you wouldn't want to be drinking too much caffeine after your little scotch stunt last night." He said as he guided me back to the living room.

"Whatever are you talking about?" I smirked.

"What scotch stunt?" Sarah asked, "You drank alcohol?"

"Only one and half glasses." I brushed her off as I sat down.

"So to get back at me, you're trying to kill the child?" Morgan asked.

"It was a tiny bit of alcohol."

"Yeah, they all know about your blood pressure and the increased risk of miscarriage and stillbirth…"

"Oh, you're on a roll." I shook my head at her.

"I'm a terrible person, I know," She rolled her eyes, "But hey, they know now."

"Don't you have rules on what you can and can't consume and stuff like that?" JJ asked me.

"It's not serious, it's just minor. I just have to see a doctor if I have any problems." I shrugged my shoulders.

"That reminds me, you're due for the 12 week check-up thing." Sarah remembered.

I picked up my phone and unlocked it. I found the calendar and looked at the dates, "Shit."

"I'll call the hospital now because I'm bored." She said as she stood up with her cell phone and walked out of the room. I checked my bank online and I definitely would not be able to afford this within the next few weeks. I locked my phone and dropped it before sitting forwards and dropping my head into my hands.

"Are you okay, mummy?" Ainsley asked as she walked over to me. I sat up and picked her up, hugging her to me. I kissed the side of her head and let her down after a short while.

"Sarah!" She put her head around the corner with her phone to her ear and raised her eyebrows to ask me what I wanted. "Don't book it." I shook my head.

She gave me a confused look and disappeared back into the dining room. After a few minutes, she came back in, "It's today at 4." She nodded.

"I told you not to book it!"

"It has to be done."

I decided against arguing; I'd work something out. "Thank you for booking it." I sighed.

She smiled, "No problem." She looked at Morgan, "Cancel your plans; you're going with her."

"…Why?"

"Morgan, do you know what happens at a 12 week scan?" JJ asked him.

"I've never been pregnant before," He raised his eyebrows, "And I clearly wasn't around when Ainsley was born."

"The 12 weeks scan is the first ultrasound and you see the baby for the first time," JJ explained, "And they do a nuchal translucency scan and blood tests to check for Down syndrome."

"Personally, I think it's nothing important but every other person in the world seems to think it is." I said.

"But it's when you first see it."

"JJ, you can't even make out what is the baby and what isn't. You don't know which end is its head…"

"The doctor knows and tells you, though."

"No, the doctor _guesses_ and tries to make it sound like they know what they're seeing."

"Well everyone else in the world apart from you thinks it's important, like you said. So let Morgan go with you."

"I didn't say no, I just said it's not important."

"You don't think it's important to know whether your baby has Down syndrome or not?" Garcia asked.

"That's a separate scan and I'd be having it either way so maybe I want to keep it a surprise. Maybe I'll keep the gender a surprise too when that scan comes."

"Please don't." She shook her head.

"I'll know the gender, I don't know if I'll tell you or not."

"You will." Rossi nodded.

"Well, I have something to do before the appointment so I'm going out." I grabbed my phone from beside me and stood up.

"What do you have to do so urgently?" Hotch asked.

"You're all very curious these days."

"Emily…" Rossi said.

"Nothing that concerns any of you." I shook my head.

"Do you want to borrow my car? Cabs are kind of expensive into town from here…"

"…Are you sure?"

He nodded, "Gas tanks full."

"Thanks." I grabbed his keys from the table in the corner.

"Mummy, can I come?" Ainsley asked.

"No honey, I don't have a baby seat for you," I kissed her forehead, "I'll be back."

"Don't you dare skip or even be late to that appointment!" Sarah called as I walked into the foyer and towards the door. I heard footsteps follow me and I knew it was Morgan. He walked out behind me and I turned around on the porch.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Coming with you because god knows you'll be out longer than you're intending and we don't need to take two cars to the hospital," He said as he walked down the stairs and took the keys, "I'm driving."

"Morgan…" I followed him to the car.

"If it doesn't concern me, then it means it's not serious. If it's not serious, then it doesn't matter if I know. If it is serious and you're lying, then I should know anyway. Get in."

"Where are we going?" He asked as he drove down the long driveway.

"…The bank."

* * *

"Please stay in the car?" I asked him for the third time.

"You're hiding this from me." He shook his head and locked the car.

"Morgan—"

"We're having our second child together, Emily. There shouldn't be secrets."

"It's not secret, it's just personal."

"A personal loan, by any chance?"

I sighed and looked down, "Well do you want me to feed our daughter or not?"

"Well you only seem to be feeding one lately." He said.

"Look, Mark took everything. Even if I sell everything in London, I won't receive much because I don't own much. He blew all my money on gambling, drugs and alcohol. He took expensive items that I bought when I was doing really well and could afford them and he sold them for money and he blew that too. I have a very limited amount right now because I'm jobless and I'm using that to pay Sarah and care for Ainsley. I don't have any other option; I can't afford the appointment today so I'm here." I turned to walk in but he grabbed my arm gently and pulled me back.

"No, Emily."

"What do you want me to do here?" There were unwelcome tears in my eyes.

"Don't get a loan; it'll just be another thing you need to pay back that'll cause you so much more stress than you already have. Let me pay for this appointment and the ones after. I'll pay Sarah and I'll pay for everything Ainsley needs."

"No," I shook my head, "This all builds up and it costs a fortune."

"Look, I'm doing pretty well in the financial sense. I've taken old, run down homes and rebuilt them back up and sold them for more than I paid on the materials to fix them. I'm doing better than I appear to be. I'm no Rossi, but I've got more than the others on the team."

I shook my head as a tear escaped my eye and I looked away so he wouldn't see it as I wiped it quickly. He put his hand on my cheek and made me look at him. "Emily, you're not on your own this time around. Let me be the father I'm supposed to be and let me help you."

I gave in and I felt so guilty doing it, "Just this appointment."

"Okay," He nodded, "And the ones afterwards…and Sarah and Ainsley."

"No."

"Yes, princess." He said more forcefully but used my old pet name to make it sound less enforced. I looked into his eyes as mine dripped of tears. He wiped the tears away and unlocked the car, telling me to get in. I got in and he sat behind the wheel but he didn't start the car. "Tell me."

"What?"

"It isn't my insistence that has you crying so much, so tell me what it is."

I looked down and put my hand over my mouth to stop myself from sobbing, "It's just really hard…I never imagined before all of this that I'd ever have children. And when I thought about it, I never expected to be a single mother if I did end up having them. And I certainly never imagined that I'd be in a position that prevented me from providing them with everything they need and want."

"But you're not alone here, Emily."

"Not right now, but I was with Ainsley and I have been for the past four years and it sucks because I have no one to blame but myself. If I had of just told you and the team, I wouldn't have felt so alone and now here you are, being so easy on me and you're being kind and you haven't yelled at me about it since I told you but you should be. You should be yelling because I was pregnant with your child and then kept it from you for four fucking years! You should be furious with me; the whole team should be but you're all so supportive and I haven't experienced this in…well…four years and it seems new again. I'm so used to being alone and screamed at every day and left in the dark with no one to turn to. Then Sarah came and I found a friend, but I pulled her into the broken mess of my life and she was hit a few times trying to protect me and it was all shit; then we finally left for good and we came here and I'm scared. Mark mightn't be a cop or a murderer but he's bad and he's followed us before and even if I recover from everything he's caused on us, I'll still always be left with the fear that he'll come back. If it happens to be after six months and he sees this one alive, he might actually snap and either kill me, the baby, Sarah, Ainsley or you."

"Okay, stop. Breathe," Morgan held my hand comfortingly. "If he comes looking for you, then the team and I will be in his way and he won't get to you. Everything else is in your head, Em. I'm not angry with you because I understand how hard it is for you and how scared you were. You hadn't ever been a mother before; you never knew what to do or how to handle any situation. Sarah came into your life voluntarily and she took what she was capable of dealing with. She's fine, Emily. The team isn't angry because they understand the same way as me but they also have no right to be. You had no obligation to tell them anything."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Being this kind and supportive after everything I did to you. Everything I didn't tell you about, every call I ignored, every text I never replied to. I never called you after the first time we slept together and then I didn't call you after the second."

"I'm a big boy; I'll survive."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything I've done and I'm sorry about this," I motioned between us, "I'm just really stressed right now, is all." I pulled my hand from his and wiped the tears on my cheeks.

"Don't be sorry," He shook his head, "Let's go eat something, my treat."

He drove to a nice restaurant and we ate and he distracted me and made me laugh a lot. I appreciated it a lot and I'd be sure to tell him that when I calmed down.


	9. Chapter 9

**UNRELATED to this story, but I am currently writing a Hotchniss FF and I need some help on deciding something. If you're interesting in helping me out, please find the poll on my profile and vote. Thanks**

 **-A xx**

 **Prentiss**

The ultrasound went great and Morgan was lost for words. I tried to hide my tears from him but he definitely saw them. He had shed a few, too. I got the other scan and a blood test and was told that I would be given the final results within three business days. We walked out of the hospital in silence and it continued until we were half way to Rossi's house.

"That didn't look like you thought it was unimportant to me…" He said quietly, glancing at me.

"It was different this time," I admitted quietly, "It just felt different."

"Were you by yourself the first time?" He asked. "Or did Sarah or Mark go with you?"

"I was alone. Sarah only came when Ainsley was two and Mark came a few months before her.

"You stayed with him for two years?" He asked in disbelief, "After everything he did to you?"

"Sarah told you the other day, we tried to leave twice but he always forced us back. It wasn't _all_ bad, though. When he was in a good mood, sober and not on the drugs, he was so sweet. I still remember one time when he came home really late in the morning and I was furious that he'd been out all night, but he explained to me that he won big the night before and used every cent on gifts for Sarah, Ainsley and I and he showered us with them for days. That was the night I really fell in love with him, I think. He wasn't sober often, but when he was, he listened to me and he talked to me and made me laugh. He'd distract me from all my problems and made me feel better at the time. He was great with Ainsley on those rather rare occasions. It's funny; sometimes I wish I could have all that bad, miserable stuff back just so I could have the good again. Just one more time."

His face had hardened as he drove and he sped up slightly but he was still within the limit. Silence fell again and when we eventually made it back to Rossi's, he got out and walked inside without a word to me. I walked in a few steps behind him and thought through everything I had said. What had I done that made him so angry? He dropped the keys on the table and went outside where Ainsley was with Reid and Sarah. I walked in and sat down on one of the couches.

"How'd it go?" JJ asked, still looking towards the backdoor and at a fuming Morgan.

"It was fine; everything's fine. I get the results for the Down syndrome test within a few days…"

"So what's up with him?" Rossi asked.

I shook my head, "I guess I said something that made him angry; I just don't know what it was. He was fine when we went out to eat before the appointment."

"Well what did you talk about?" Garcia asked.

"Uh…" I thought back to the conversation, "He asked why I stayed with Mark for as long as I did and I explained it to him…"

"What'd you say?" Hotch asked.

"I said that he wasn't _always_ terrible, he was nice occasionally and that he showered us with gifts when he was. Uh…I said that on the rare occasions that he was sober and in a good mood, he'd listen to me and make me laugh and forget all the negative things in my life for that moment, he was great with Ainsley in those times. And then I said that I sometimes wished to have all the bad stuff back just so I could have the good just one more time." I looked at them and my eyes landed on JJ as she gave me an obvious look.

"Do you seriously not know what you did wrong?" She asked me. I shook my head and she sighed, "Emily, he took you out on a date earlier today. He would have listened to you and tried to make you forget about your troubles and make you laugh. He tries to be the perfect father for Ainsley and instead of you seeing him as someone worthy of your heart; you said you wished you could have Mark back despite the abuse and sorrow he caused on you just to have the good him one more time."

"…We didn't go out on a date…"

"…Yeah, you did." She nodded.

"No, we just went out to eat."

"Did he pay?" Garcia asked.

"Yes…"

"Then honeybun, you went out on a date."

I set out my signature sigh and dropped my head, closing my eyes, "I feel like Reid," They all laughed at me, "Don't laugh, this is seriously the worst thing that could happen."

"Wait, why is it bad?" JJ asked.

"…Because I went on a date with _Morgan_."

"Why is that bad?"

"Because he's the father of my child…ren. My children." I changed my word and laughed at myself. They did too.

"Will's the father of my child, are we not allowed to go out on dates?"

"But you're together, it's different."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe Morgan _wants_ the two of you to be together?" Hotch asked me. I looked at him before looking down as I thought about it. It made sense now.

"And with our conversation last night…you think…maybe?" JJ asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh no…" I said quietly to myself, "Oh god no." I walked away quickly and went upstairs.

* * *

I had spent the rest of the day and evening in the room, pacing back and forth, sitting down for a while and staring at the wall, laying on the ground and staring at the ceiling. Through all of it, I had not been able to wipe today from my mind. Did he really feel like that about me? Did I really feel like this about him? Did I love him or did I _want_ to love him? Did I want to date him or did I just want the _attention_ that I'd receive from it. Did I want to risk breaking my little angel's heart? Did I want to risk messing with Sarah's new found liking of Reid, or vice versa? There was so much going on at once and it was all so overwhelming.

After a long time, it fell dark and the once quiet house stirred. Henry, Jack and Ainsley were brought upstairs with Garcia and I heard Sarah yelling. I got up and went downstairs quickly to see Mark in the living room. My breath caught in my throat and anxiety filled every part of me. He looked at me and I could see how wild his eyes were, high with whatever drug he was on. "…Mark, what are you doing?"

"Barging into my house uninvited is what he's doing…" Rossi said quietly.

"I'm so sorry, Rossi." I said as I walked forwards. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards the foyer. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"I miss you."

"Well bad luck, Mark. Get out of here." He shook his head and put his hand on my waist. I swatted it away, "Don't you dare touch me. What are you on?" I assumed cocaine.

"What does that matter?"

I sighed and shook my head, "You're destroying yourself. Go and sober up; I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"No, baby. Now."

"It's Emily, and get out of the damn house." I motioned to the door. I gasped with fear as he unexpectedly took both my arms, holding them still in front of me and pushed me back into the wall hard. When his grip loosened slightly, I pried away and walked towards the living room where it opened more room for me to escape too. He grabbed my arm in the archway and turned me around. He slapped me hard across the face, "How dare you walk away from me!" I fell to the ground and I felt JJ and Sarah both at my sides, pulling me up. When I opened my eyes, I saw Morgan dragging Mark outside. Morgan was much bigger and a lot stronger. And he wasn't a coward.

I escaped JJ and Sarah's arms as Hotch came over to me and I ran outside, "Morgan!" I tried to go down the porch steps and pull them away from each other but Hotch caught me and held me back.

"Mummy!" I heard Ainsley yell through tears. She ran outside to me and she looked at Morgan and Mark, "Daddy!" She screamed, more tears falling from her eyes. He stopped and looked up. The fear in her voice scared him and he didn't want to do anything bad in front of her. That's when Mark jumped on him.

I swept her up quickly and went inside as Garcia met me in the foyer, "I'm so sorry, I was calming Henry down—"

"It's okay, Garcia; just take her back up please?" I handed her over. She nodded and walked away quickly. I walked back outside, "Sarah, can you please go to Ainsley?"

She looked at me and then watched the two men as she walked to the door. "Hotch, stop him." I said quietly.

"If I stop Morgan then Mark will either jump him or me." He shook his head. I bit my lip and took my gun from my waistband where I had slipped it on my way out of my room. I held it to JJ.

"Shoot him."

"What?" She asked.

"Yeah, what?" Will asked from her side.

"You have the best aim. Shoot Mark."

"No," She shook her head, "I could still hit Morgan, I'm not risking that."

I sighed, "Fine." I put the gun back and watched them. Morgan was winning and he eventually pinned him to the ground on his stomach.

Rossi ran down the steps and handed him a pair of handcuffs. Morgan cuffed him and pulled him up, "You're under arrest for assault and for assaulting an agent under the influence." Morgan said with humour in his voice. Hotch took his phone out to call a station for someone to come pick him up and I walked down the steps and stood in front of Mark.

"Why'd you have to do this?"

"I'm not giving up on you this easy."

" _You_ broke up with _me_."

"You cheated on me." He snapped.

"Then why are you still trying?" I asked with a calm, tired voice. He didn't have an answer to that, "You don't know what you're doing here, do you?"

Rossi and Hotch both took him from Morgan and he turned my head slightly to what I assumed was a cut on my cheekbone. I pulled his hand down, away from it and put my arms around him. "You should really clean this." He said, looking at the cut again once we parted.

"Stop." I rolled my eyes and pushed his hand away gently.

"Daddy!" Ainsley called as she ran down the porch steps, almost falling as she did. She ran into his arms and he lifted her up, kissing her cheek. She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly. I smiled to myself and ran my hand down her arm before kissing her cheek and walking back towards the house. I felt kind of dizzy after the hit and I needed to sit down.


	10. Chapter 10

**Prentiss**

Two weeks had passed. I was now 15 weeks into my pregnancy and we were still in Virginia. Rossi was very insistent that the three of us still stayed with him and Hotch and JJ were a lot more talkative about my possible return to their team. They tried their hardest to get me to but I wasn't so sure I wanted to give in yet. I did know that I wasn't going back to London. I was staying in Virginia. Sarah and Reid were perfect together in everyone else's eyes, and they were going on dates and everything. I had never seen either of them this happy.

Ainsley was very close with the whole team and she loved Morgan more than anything and vice versa. I was trying to keep my distance from Morgan lately and I didn't know if he had noticed but the rest of the team had. I had told Ainsley about the new baby and she was excited, much to my surprise. I thought she'd be upset about having to share the attention.

"Mummy, you're getting fat." She said to me from my side. I looked at her for a few seconds before looking forwards and trying not to laugh.

"Hey," JJ walked in with Will and Henry through the front door, "We were thinking of taking Henry to the pool today. I talked to Hotch and we're taking Jack so we can take Ainsley too if you want." She proposed as she sat down. Henry said hi to Ainsley and they ran off together to go play somewhere.

I nodded, "If she wants, that'd be great. Thanks." I smiled, "It'll finally give me some time to work out London."

"What have you decided to do?" Will asked.

"Get rid of everything. I'm not going to bring anything here and it'll all just remind me of everything over the past four years and I don't need reminders."

"So you're selling everything?" JJ raised her eyebrows.

I nodded, "I'm getting my housekeeper to do it all for me because she's there and I'm giving her a large pay to end her work for me."

Sarah and Reid walked into the house and into the living room, laughing about something. Reid had taken her out for breakfast; she loved when he took her out and he had done it often over the past two weeks. They sat down, "Morgan and Garcia are one their up now." Reid said.

"Hotch is on his way, too." JJ said.

"Why did _my_ home become the place where everyone always was?" Rossi asked.

"Because Emily's here." Garcia said as she walked in with Morgan, or my "baby daddy", as she called him several times, behind her. She always made it clear when she said it that he was the "good" kind of baby daddy. Apparently it required clarification.

They sat down and JJ looked at Morgan, "Anything planned today?"

"No," He shook his head, "Why?"

"We're taking Ainsley to the pool with us and I was just making sure you didn't have plans with her first." JJ smiled.

Morgan nodded, "Don't let her drown."

"Wasn't planning on it." She shook her head.

Hotch walked into the house and joined us in the living room. Jack ran off towards where Henry and Ainsley were.

"Isn't this great? We're all back together again, seeing each other outside of work." Garcia smiled.

"Penelope…" Morgan looked at her and she closed her mouth and looked down.

"She knows, Morgan., JJ brushed it off, "I told her on like her second or third night here."

"Oh…well then yeah, it's great, baby girl." He sounded tired today. Granted, they did get back just last night after a week of full on work as they hunted some dangerous criminal.

"You know, we could have really used your skills over the past week…" Hotch said to me quietly.

"Everyone else on the team has the same skills."

"Linguistics, child advocacy and terrorism? We don't specialise in those." He shook his head.

"Well you didn't need the terrorism part and you all know enough about linguistics and child advocacy. You are more than capable to hunt people as a team without me."

"Come on, what's the worst you could happen if you came back to the BAU?" Reid asked.

"I'm a mother Reid…"

"So is JJ?"

"JJ is married and has someone to care for her child while she's away."

Sarah cleared her throat to remind me of her. "You don't count." I shook my head.

She snickered, "Harsh."

"You just keep finding new excuses to stay out of the BAU." Garcia said.

"They're not excuses, Garcia."

"Yes they are. How did you live in London? You didn't quit Interpol because no one was there with Ainsley. Sarah was there then and Sarah is here now. I can think of two reasons you'd be doing this and pretty sure it's not the first one I thought of."

I shook my head, "I told you my reasons."

She ignored my comment, "The one that I'm almost certain isn't right is maybe you really don't want to be working with us again. Maybe you don't like being a profiler or you don't like us. The second, which I think is right, is that you don't want to get too close to Morgan. I'm not even a profiler and I know you've been avoiding him."

"I have not." I denied.

"Like a criminal avoids a cop." JJ agreed with Garcia.

"Ring ring," I faked, "Oh, I have to take this." I said as I stood up and took my phone out of the room. I didn't even try to make a real excuse to leave. I walked into the dining room and sat down. I could see the three kids outside, running around and playing together. I decided to call to London and start trying to organise the selling of my house and everything in it.

* * *

It took me all day and I had to call so many different places but I had given up now. I needed to go to London and do it all face to face, not over the phone. I had been pacing around the house all morning and into the afternoon. The team, minus JJ, Garcia and Will were watching me all day. The other three went with the kids to the pool. The calls themselves were costing me a fortune. I walked upstairs and packed a bag before walking back down. It was evening and Ainsley had just gotten back with the other five about a half hour ago.

"What are you doing?" Sarah asked.

"I'm going to London because they're all apparently too stupid to do anything over the phone. Can I leave her with you?" I motioned to Ainsley while asking Sarah. I looked at Morgan, "or you?"

"Yeah." Morgan nodded.

"Uh…you can't afford to fly there and back right now, Em…" Sarah said.

"I can afford to get there and I'll have the money from the house to come back on."

"How can you afford to get there? You have no job and you said yourself two weeks ago that you wouldn't be able to afford the ultrasound appointment but then you managed to get there…"

"I figured it out, okay?"

"Did you get a loan?" She asked.

"…Not from the bank."

"From me." Morgan said casually.

She gasped, "Never once have I seen you ever accept help from anyone in the two years that I've known you."

"I am going to pay him back every cent." I said as I walked over to Ainsley. I kissed her cheek and she hugged me.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to London. I won't be too long, okay?"

"Can I come?"

"No, honey. Stay here with daddy and Sarah." I kissed her cheek again and stood up. I grabbed my bag and walked to the door "I'll be back within a few days. Keep me updated on her." I said to Morgan, "We've actually never been apart for longer than a night."

* * *

I walked through my house slowly as tears dripped down my cheeks. It took my two years to make this place a home for Ainsley and I and then Mark came along and made everything seem negative. I went through a few small boxes around the place and took a few things I wanted to keep. I went to Ainsley's room and took a few plush toys and a few of her favourite books. I got some more of her favourite outfits, some of my favourite outfits and my two other pairs of boots that I loved. I packed it all in my bag and locked the house up. I went down the street to the nearest 24 hour store and asked if they had cardboard boxes. I collected a fair few from them and went back; packing in toys, clothes, small objects that really wouldn't sell for much if they did at all. I took them to an opportunity shop, one of those charity places that let you donate anything for them to give or sell for cheap to the poorer of families. I left the several dozen boxes at the back where they encouraged people to leave their stuff if for some reason they couldn't bring it in during working hours. I got no sleep the night I arrived and I cleaned nonstop for the whole of the night and next day. All of my furniture, despite being in a home where a little girl had lived for a rather long time, was very clean, great quality and worth quite a bit once I sold it all. That took a whole day and a half to clear it all out. What was left over that I couldn't move on my own or wouldn't be able to sell; I asked an old acquaintance to take to the opportunity store. The man and his friend did if for me without a second thought and wished me luck on my journeys. It took me another day to organise to sell the house and then I got a call about my car which I had advertised to sell two days ago. The three person family came around to look at it and took it willingly, paying me the ridiculous amount that the car was not worth. I advertised it as much more than I would get because I assumed it would be negotiated down but they didn't negotiate. They transferred the money to my bank and I sat in my empty house that would be up for quick sale as of tomorrow. I was with the most famous real estate business around here. They said that when put up for quick sale; the house was often sold within days.

I stayed in a crappy, cheap hotel for the next three days until the house was sold, I received the money and I was able to calculate how much I could spare to lose right now. I went to Michelle's and dropped it off in a cheque before going to the airport to catch the next flight back to Virginia.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! I'll be leaving the poll up for another week before I take the votes into my decision. Take a vote!**

 **-A xx**

 **Morgan**

Emily had left Rossi's about an hour before he made the team some of his famous pasta for dinner. Well, famous to us. I had texted Emily and asked if it was okay with her if I took Ainsley to my place instead of staying at Rossi's. She had replied with: "Yeah. You are the full time parent right now. You do what you want to and what is best for her. She's not hard; just make her say the oath in the mornings and listen when she does because she doesn't like to do it by herself. Thank you for this."

I took the week off unless we were called to a case to spend the week with her. I had to read her a book the first night before she went to sleep in the spare room of my apartment. In the morning, she had gotten up and woken me up. I texted Emily about what she normally did and I followed the guidelines she left me. Turn the shower on for her and make sure it's just warm, keep an eye on her, turn it off when she's ready, the oath, what to give her for breakfast etcetera. She played with Clooney as I had a shower and got ready. Then I took her out for lunch, to a movie and out for ice cream. She was so alive and full of energy and she was just so like Emily.

On her second day with me, the team, Henry and Jack came with us and I took her to the zoo and aquarium with them. She had the time of her life. She and Henry were like best friends. They held hands as they walked around and JJ, Sarah and Garcia were almost in tears because of how adorable they found it. We went out for dinner together that night. Sarah had used the nights that Ainsley was with me to spend them with Reid. The third day, I had met Reid and Sarah with Ainsley at the park where Sarah played with her for a while. Reid asked me about relationships and if they were hard. I had a very long conversation with him and I found it kind of amusing that he didn't know some of the things I was saying.

The fourth day was filled with Ainsley's tears. She missed Emily and I had tried calling her but she didn't pick up at all. I resulted to calling JJ and asking for advice. She told me to distract her, play a game, watch a movie, take her out to eat or for ice cream or something. I tried my hardest to make her happy and take her mind off it but I knew that Emily was in her mind the whole time. Yesterday, Sarah had come to my apartment to see her when I had to go into the precinct and I got back rather late with Reid. I made dinner for the five of us and then Reid went to his place and Sarah either went with him or to Rossi's.

Today was long and she cried a few times. I took her to the park and she ran around for a while with a few kids she met there. It was Saturday now so the team was at Rossi's again. We had drifted apart over the past few years but now that Emily was back, it was like we never stopped seeing each other outside of work at all. We were like a family again. I drove to Rossi's with Ainsley in the baby seat that I had bought and walked inside with her in my arms. I put her down when I reached the living room and she ran to JJ.

"I miss mummy." She said to her quietly.

JJ gave her a sad smile, "I miss your mummy too, sweetheart, but she'll be back any day now." She kissed her forehead and Ainsley lay against her chest. "Has anyone heard from her?" JJ asked everyone.

"She never called me back and she only answered my texts when it was questions about Ainsley." I shook my head.

"I called her on Wednesday night and I forgot it was really late there. It was like 2 am and she picked up on the second ring. I heard quiet music in the background and I could hear how tired she was. She said she was cleaning and she hung up quickly. I haven't heard since."

"She never answers my texts, even when I have Ainsley." Sarah shook her head.

"I figured you knew what was going on…" Rossi said to me.

I shook my head and sat down. I was worried; she didn't seem like she was sleeping very well even before she left here. If she hadn't called or texted anyone, maybe something had happened. "Morgan, she'll be okay." Hotch said to me.

She walked through the door then at the most convenient time. I looked to my left at the archway and she walked through slowly. She was clearly exhausted, bags under her eyes that were red with fatigue. She was holding an envelope and dropped everything as Ainsley jumped down from JJ and ran to her. She hugged her for a few minutes in silence before kissing her cheek and crouching down, "Guess what?" Her voice alone was enough to know she hadn't slept much in the past week.

"What?" Ainsley asked her quietly.

"In my bag is some of your old toys and books." She smiled at her.

Ainsley gasped and ran to look in the bag once Emily motioned for her to. Her warm smile disappeared instantly as she grabbed the envelope and picked up the other, heavier bag. She dropped the envelope on my lap as she walked passed and went towards the staircase. I watched her walk up in confusion and picked up the envelope with my name on it. A took out a small piece of paper in it. It read _"Thank you"._ I took out the other piece of paper and saw a cheque. There was more money on this than I had given her.

"Emily…" I stood up and followed her up. I walked into the room where she had been staying but she was lying asleep already on the bed. I took the notepad on the dresser and the pen beside it. I penned _"I'm not taking this"_ and I put it on top of the envelope. I put in on the nightstand beside her and moved her carefully, laying her straighter and putting the blankets over her. I brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled. She looked so peaceful at this moment. I walked out and turned the light out, closing the door behind me.

"What was that?" Garcia asked as I walked back into the living room.

"A cheque. I left a note on top of it saying I wasn't taking it. She fell right asleep as soon as she hit the bed. I moved her and put the blankets over her so she'll probably be asleep til tomorrow."

"She did look terrible." Will nodded.

Ainsley walked over to me carrying several books. She gave them to me and said they were her favourite ones. Then she went back to the bag, got numerous stuffed toys out and walked over to me again, this time climbing onto the couch beside me. She started introducing them to me and everyone and it was the most adorable thing in the world.

* * *

"Okay, so when I say I need to go to London next time, you say…" Emily asked Sarah as she walked into the living room.

"No." Sarah laughed.

"Good." Emily smiled and shook her head. She had the envelope again and put it on the table in front of me, "Yes you are."

"No I'm not," I shook my head, "I told you that I was not _lending_ you the money, I was _giving_ it to you. That means that it's a gift and you don't give gifts back. Also, even if I was taking it back, that's more than I gave you."

"I hate you." She sighed as she walked towards the kitchen. She stopped in the archway and turned around, "Where is Ainsley?"

"Oh, she just walked out about a half hour ago and said she had somewhere to go. She said she'd be back." I nodded.

"What?" Her eyes flared with anxiety and anger.

"I'm kidding…why did you take that so seriously?"

"Because you just said—"

"Emily, no kid at her age would ever come up with something like that and she can hardly even reach the doorhandle, come on. You really need more sleep. She's outside with Jack and Henry." JJ said.

"No, I need coffee."

"Decaf." Rossi nodded.

"Don't tell me how to live my life." She joked as she turned and walked to the kitchen. I picked up the envelope and followed her.

"So how was London?" I asked as I sat down at the counter island.

"Exhausting."

"Did you get everything done?"

"Yeah, it's all gone except for a few things I wanted to keep."

"And why won't you just keep the money?"

"Because I owe you."

"No, you don't. She's my daughter too…I was paying for you to do whatever you do to benefit her…well…just think of it that way, at least."

She put her mug down and looked at the envelope that I was holding out to her. "No, Morgan. I don't accept help often, okay? And when I do, I'm ashamed of myself and it's embarrassing. Just please, please take it?"

I didn't want to accept it but she felt really bad about taking my money. It took me two days to convince her in the first place. I sighed, "Change it to a thousand and I'll take it."

"But you gave me two thousand…"

"Emily, I'm compromising here. Don't make me change it to five hundred."

She sighed and gave me a defeated look, "Fine. A thousand." She took it and found a pen in one of the drawers. She wrote it down and gave it back to me.

"Thank you," I smiled, "And why were you avoiding me?"

She picked her mug up and walked around the counter and towards the living room, "I don't want to talk about it."

I looked at the cheque in my hand. I could take the money and then transfer it back to her account; I still had the information needed. I sat in there for a while before Garcia called for me from the living room. I got up and made my way back in, sitting down where I was before. Emily was sitting on the ground with Ainsley who had since come back inside.


	12. Chapter 12

**Prentiss**

Another week had passed and I spent the whole time discussing with Hotch what I would be doing if I accepted his offer and came back to the BAU. It was a hard decision, leaving my baby girl again every day and having to leave Sarah to take care of her. Sure, it was what I paid her for, but she just got a job at a bar in town and she liked to have her own life too. Granted, she didn't do much while Reid was at work and she said that the bar was kid friendly. They had a room in the back for children of the employees with a camera behind the bar. I asked if it mattered that it wasn't really her child and she said that she explained the situation to them and they were in full support of Ainsley being there with them. Of course, she'd be going into kindergarten by the end of September, so it really wouldn't be _that_ long anyway. There was only a few more months.

I had found a three bedroom apartment with a reasonable leasing price and Sarah and I agreed on it. It was in D.C, close to the others of the team. About an hour from Quantico and about 10 minutes from Sarah's work. We were cutting _very_ low on money after shopping for furniture and everything we had to do. We both had a car each, both second hand but mine was better kept than hers because I have more money than her after selling everything. I went shopping for food and spent more than I would have liked. We went shopping for new clothes, too. I had to get new suits, pencil skirts, pants and blouses for work. It added up very fast and now we were just waiting on buying anything else for a few more months. I did have an ultrasound to go to next week to see that my baby was developing properly, to determine the gender and to check for any abnormalities. The whole team had helped us move the furniture inside and around and we were all pretty tired by the end of the week. They insisted on helping so after long days at work, they would be working more before finally going home.

Today was my first morning back at the BAU after four years and I didn't know why I felt so nervous. They hadn't been called to a case in two weeks and I just knew that it would happen today of all days. I kissed Ainsley's forehead softly as she slept peacefully in her new bed. I walked towards the living room as Sarah walked out of the combined kitchen and dining in the next room. She had a cup of coffee and an oversized sweater on that closely resembled one of Reid's. I raised my eyebrows, "Stealing his clothes now, are you?"

"It smells like him." She smiled.

"Okay, no," I made a disturbed face, "I work with him. He's like a little brother to me. I don't want to hear that," I sat down, "So have you slept with him yet?"

She laughed, "How sisterly of you. No, not yet. I don't want to make the first move and I don't know if he'll ever make it."

"Honey, Reid isn't exactly the kind of guy who gets with or even knows a lot of women…"

"He's not a virgin." She shook her head.

"…He's not?" I sat up, kind of surprised. Why did that surprise me so much?

"No." She shook her head with an amused smile, "We talk about it sometimes. He told me the whole story and he wouldn't lie about it, right?"

"No, he wouldn't," I shook my head, "I saw he was holding your hand the other day. He _never_ does stuff like that, Sar. He doesn't even shake anyone's hand on the job. He awkwardly waves when we introduce him and the other cops think it's weird."

"…Do you think he's weird?"

"I think he's Reid. The kid does confuse me sometimes. I mean, he wears his watch _over_ his long sleeve, but I love Reid, you know that."

She took a deep breath, "Yeah, I think I do too, just not quite the same way as you…"

My eyes widened and I grinned, "Really? Oh, I'm so happy for you!" I looked at my watch, "Ah shoot, I have to go. I have to meet a half hour earlier than when I actually start." I stood up and picked up my bag.

"Why?" She asked as she stood too.

"Hotch wants to talk to me. Catch me up and everything I've missed, fill me in on changes around the place etcetera. I don't know how there's more; he's been talking to me about it all week. I think that he is actually excited. Hotch is excited. It's weird," I shook my head, "But you will tell me all about this tonight, assuming there isn't a case. I'll call you if there is." I had told her everything she would possibly need to know if we were on a case and she knew that Ainsley was in her hands completely while Morgan and I were away.

"Okay, wait," She adjusted my collar beneath my jacket of my suit, "Look at my girl, all grown up."

We both laughed and I kissed her cheek, "Bye."

"Have a good first day, sweetie!" She laughed again.

"Get out of Reid's sweater, honey!" I teased with a laugh as I closed the door. As I walked to my new, second hand but still well-kept car, I noticed the slight happy bounce in my walk. I was excited about today. I was finally returning to the BAU to work with my team, best friends and family. This was the best thing to happen to me since Ainsley's birth. I should be excited.

* * *

I walked into the bullpen and saw my desk completely decorated with new things. I smiled to myself as I looked over the small objects and frames with pictures of the team, Ainsley and me, Sarah and Ainsley, Sarah, Ainsley and me, Ainsley and Morgan, Ainsley, Morgan and me. It was so colourful, though. The different colours all in such a small space gave me a headache but I appreciated it all the same. I put my bag down beside it and picked up the frame of Morgan, Ainsley and I. I viewed it, paying attention to the picture as a whole and then the small details that made it. This was my favourite one of us; had I told her that before or did she just pick one? So this was what she wanted my phone for the other day.

I shook my head, put the frame back where I had gotten it from and turned around. Garcia walked out from her lair and put whatever she was holding behind her back as soon as she saw me, "Oh, hi honeybun."

I gave her a suspicious look, "Hi…"

"Welcome back!" She said excitedly, walking over and kissing my cheek.

"What are you hiding?" I asked, referring to the thing behind her.

She looked up towards Hotch's office, "Boss-man's waiting for you. He's getting impatient."

"I'm early…what is it?"

"It's nothing." She shook her head. I looked towards Hotch's office. He stood at his window with a hint of a smile. I motioned to the desk and smiled at him. His smile grew and he shook his head. He walked to his right and disappeared behind the wall before opening the door. He motioned for me to go up and I looked back at Garcia.

"Thanks for the desk, Pen." I smirked as I walked passed her. She moved around so her back was always out of my view. I walked into his office and he looked out the window for half a second before closing the blinds over. "…Okay…what is going on?"

"Nothing, I just thought you might like some privacy."

"Did you see my desk? She got all of those photos from my phone. There is no privacy around here."

He smiled and looked down, "It looks…nice."

"The amount of different colours in the small space hurts my eyes." I laughed. He laughed too and nodded.

"I'm sure she doesn't expect you to keep it all on there. I saw her putting an empty box in the bottom drawer, so she probably expects you to put everything in there. I wouldn't move the frames, though. She seemed very attached to those."

I laughed again, "Noted. Thanks."

"So how are you feeling about returning to all of this?"

"I'm actually kind of excited," I nodded, "Apparently Garcia is too."

"Garcia had been convinced that you would be coming back to occupy that desk since you first appeared in that doorway again…" He continued to make conversation for a while before his phone buzzed on his desk beside him. He looked at the message and stood up, "Round table room."

"A case?" I asked as I stood up.

"No, just something the team needs to know."

"…Okay." I walked out but he stopped.

"Give me a 15 second head start." He said, holding a smile back. I had never seen him smile so much in this amount of time.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes," He nodded and he walked backwards, "Start now." He said as he turned and walked around the catwalk. The blinds of the round table room where down and I was left standing awkwardly in front of his office door, counting. I reached 15 seconds and made my way around slowly. What the hell was going on? As I walked to the door, I saw the decorations everywhere. The big banner that read "Welcome back!" the coffee cups from a coffee shop down the road decorated with colourful, happy images that I'm assuming Garcia had drawn and my team standing around with big smiles.

"Oh my god…" I breathed with a large smile, looking around. I felt tears fill my eyes and they dripped onto my cheeks. I would blame it on the hormones but I was almost certain that they had nothing to do with it. It was so nice to feel loved. I shook my head and looked at the six people in front of me. "You've outdone yourselves."

"This was all Penelope. I voted we just gave you some real coffee instead of decaf…maybe we wouldn't have had to be here this early." Morgan said.

I smiled and shook my head at him. Garcia approached me and I hugged her, "Thanks Pen." I whispered, more tears spilling over. I pulled away, "Ah! I hate being pregnant." I blamed as I wiped the tears, careful not to smudge my makeup.

"Don't pretend those are because of hormones," JJ smirked as she hugged me, "Welcome back, Em."

"Thanks." I said to her quietly. I hugged Morgan, Rossi and Hotch, receiving the same "welcome back" from each. I hugged Reid last and he kissed my cheek. Once I pulled away, I was met with a cup of coffee from Garcia I took it and sipped it, "Oh, sweet mother of Jesus, real coffee."

"Only this once though," Garcia smiled, "And Sarah's down with it too so you won't be able to get away with it at home."

"But she has a job now," I nodded, "She won't always be around."

"…You'll find a certain someone soon enough who'll keep the same rules and will be around you all the time…" JJ said, glancing at Morgan without realising that everyone saw it.

"Oh!" I turned and looked at Reid at my side, "Are you missing a dark green sweater?"

"…Yeah. How'd you know?" His eyebrows furrowed.

I nodded, "Sarah has it. She was wearing it this morning."

"She stole my sweater!?"

I laughed, "That's what we do, Reid. And then you'll buy another one and she'll steal that one too because the other one is slightly losing the scent of you and the new one has it all freshened up."

"It's true. Emily stole one of my shirts…" Morgan said.

"I did?"

"Yeah, when you ran out 5 months ago."

I cleared my throat, "Yeah…let's not recall that; it wasn't my proudest moment…"

Garcia's phone vibrated and she looked at it, "Oh no! Why today?" She complained as she walked out. Hotch followed her and I knew it was a case.

"Party's over early…" JJ said, smiling apologetically.

"Good, I can drink this without Rossi staring at me with so much disapproval…" I smirked at him as he looked at me. He walked out with a small smirk and went to his office. Morgan and Reid walked out and JJ looked at me.

"What was that?"

"What? Did you see Rossi's face every time I sipped it?"

"No, not the Rossi comment. The "let's not recall that; it wasn't my proudest moment". Emily, he loves you and you just keep breaking his heart again and again. Did you see him shift when you said that? It bothered him."

I shook my head, "JJ, he doesn't love me. He probably shifted because he was uncomfortable or something. Besides, I meant that running out wasn't my proudest moment."

She shook her head, "You are one of the smartest people I know but you're also the dumbest. I don't understand why you can't see it." She said as she stood on a chair to take the banner down and I retrieved the streamers. I think Garcia went a little overboard, but it was all appreciated greatly.

"I can't see it because it doesn't exist," I denied, "And I'm over talking about it. I have juicy gossip."

"Do tell." She said, deciding against arguing over the topic change.

"Reid isn't a virgin."

"What? But the three of us were so sure he was. Remember that night when he tried to talk to that girl but she wasn't interested after he kept talking about facts and statistics and then he started babbling about Star Trek and Garcia? We were so sure after that night."

"I know, I was so surprised when Sarah told me. She said that they hadn't slept together yet, but they talk about it sometimes and he isn't a virgin," I shrugged my shoulders, "He told her all about it and everything."

"Just once? What's the story?"

"I don't know; I had to leave. I told her she had to tell me everything tonight but I think it'll be delayed a few nights."

"I can't believe that he isn't a virgin." She shook her head as she stepped down from the chair. I bit my lip. The team had walked back in just as she said that. "I mean, he isn't—"

"JJ," I cut her off, "Turn around." She turned and her eyes widened.

"Well that was quick…"

"Who isn't a virgin?" Morgan asked as he sat down.

"Uh…um…Hotch." JJ blurted out, caught on the spot.

"Well he has a kid…so I'd assume he wasn't…" Morgan smirked.

"Really?" I asked her as we sat down, "You couldn't make up a name?"

"But then we'd have to make up a backstory of who he was and how we knew him and we just didn't have that kind of time." She shook her head.

"So who were you really about? I'm guessing Reid, because Hotch has a kid, Rossi's been married three times and you're pregnant with your second child with Morgan…and you said he…" Garcia said.

"This is not a work appropriate conversation…" I said, using that as a rather good excuse, "And I'll tell you later." I added quietly. I opened the file that Hotch had put in front of me and JJ and I glanced at each other, smirking.

Reid cleared his throat awkwardly before he started talking about some fact involving something in the file.


	13. Chapter 13

**Prentiss**

Three days in Portland, Oregon and two of the children taken had already shown up, bloodied and dead. I was allowed to do everything I normally would except for hunt the unsub actively once we knew who it was.

"I don't understand. They're taken care of great, but then they're killed so brutally." JJ said quietly, staring at the board.

Then it clicked. Why had we all bypassed this and not even mention it? "It's a team," I said, "A female and a male. The female takes them, cares for them until the child does something wrong or one of them decides that it's the wrong child for them and then the male kills and disposes of them."

"How did no one come up with that until now?" Morgan asked. It sounded so clear and understandable now. Hotch got his phone out and called Garcia, putting her on speaker.

"Hello my babies; please tell me you need something that I can actually help you with." She greeted. Hotch looked at me.

"Garcia, we need you to widen your search to neighbouring towns and look for a team of a female and male; siblings, a married couple, even just a boyfriend and girlfriend. Look into children's deaths that may have been caused by murder or something else that could be so gruesome. See if anything related to it happened recently that could be the stressor or trigger."

"On it. I'll call when I have something good."

"Thank you baby girl." Morgan said in his smooth talking voice.

It was late now and I was extremely tired. We all were and Hotch had noticed. "Everyone go back to the hotel and get some rest. We'll work better rested."

"But there's more—"

"JJ, we're not getting anywhere right now," Hotch cut her off, "We'll start again in the morning. I'll call Garcia and tell her to go home too."

They all agreed and stood up. "Prentiss, come on." Hotch said once he noticed I hadn't moved.

I turned and looked at him, "I will in a few minutes; I just need to do one more thing."

"Do you want us to wait?" Reid asked.

"No, you guys go. I'll leave soon."

"I want you out of here by 10:30." Hotch said as he walked out with the others. I nodded and they left swiftly. It was 1 am in Virginia, too late to call Sarah and Ainsley. I turned back to the board and stared at all the information and photos. After about 5 minutes, I got up and made myself some coffee from the break room. I went back and went through everything again. I lost track of time and it was sunrise before I knew it, I had drunk so much coffee that I was buzzing all night.

I had taken everything off the board and stuck it back up so I could understand it all better. There must have been 20 empty paper cups that I had drunk coffee from throughout the night.

"Prentiss!" Hotch scolded as he and the team walked in. I turned around quickly and looked at them, startled. "I meant 10:30 pm, not am." He said as he looked at the coffee cups.

"You changed the board?" Reid asked, looking at everything and the writing beside it all that I had done in the mix of working some things out.

"Yeah…well it makes sense now. It's neat and not spread out so randomly."

He looked at me and tried to hold an amused smile back as he took his bag from his shoulder and sat down. I walked to the table and collected the empty cups.

"18 cups? My god, how are you not dead?" JJ asked as she counted what I picked up.

"Not dead, awake though." I said quickly as I walked out towards the break room. I put more coffee on and threw the empty cups out. I turned around and was startled again by Hotch's presence, "Jesus Christ, announce yourself." I said as I put my hand over my fast beating heart.

"You're not meant to stay all night, Prentiss."

"I couldn't sleep so I came back." I lied.

"If you were tired enough to drink 18 cups of coffee, you were tired enough to fall asleep. Did you even go back to the hotel?"

"No." I admitted with shame seeping through my voice.

"That isn't healthy." He shook his head.

"I know, but I don't sleep well. You know that."

"Did you get an hour or two on the couch in there, at least?"

I motioned to the coffee machine and shook my head before filling a cup. He took it from me before I could drink it, "No. No more coffee for a while." He filled another four cups and asked for me to assist carrying them to the team. I did unwillingly and I slumped down.

"Oh my god, you're not having any?" Rossi asked me with surprise is his voice.

"I'm not allowed to." I motioned to Hotch.

"Great punishment." Morgan laughed.

"Oh! I need to call Sarah." I said as I stood and took my phone off the charger on the wall. I walked out as I dialled her number and held the phone to my ear.

"Hey Em." She greeted me. She didn't sound good.

"You sound terrible. Are you okay?" I asked as I walked outside. The sun gave me a headache as I walked into it.

"We've come down with something, Ainsley and I both."

"Oh, well do you need me to come back? My team isn't very happy with me anyway…"

"Why? What happened?"

"I didn't go to the hotel last night and drank 18 cups of coffee over the time they were all asleep to keep myself awake at the station."

"…How are you not dead?"

"I've already been asked that exact question. So do you need me to come home?"

"No, no. We'll be fine. Ainsley is doing much better than me so we're all good here. Anything new on the case?"

"I spent all night here and the only thing that I got was overly angry. I'm so freaking frustrated and we just can't find anything."

"I'm sure something will come up soon," I heard Ainsley in the background and smiled at the sound of her voice, "She wants to talk to you." Sarah said.

"Put her on." I said, still smiling.

"Hi mummy." Ainsley greeted me.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?"

"Sarah says we have a tummy bug."

"Aw baby." I frowned to myself.

"I miss you. When are you coming back?"

"I miss you too. I'll be back soon, sweetheart. Mummy's got to catch the bad guy first."

"Is daddy with you?"

"He's here somewhere but he's not right next to me."

"Tell him I miss him."

"I will honey," I smiled, "I've got to go now, but I'll call again soon, okay?" I said as JJ motioned for me to come back in.

"Okay, bye mummy."

"Bye sweetheart." I hung up and stood from the step. I followed JJ back in and walked back into the room where we resided to work.

"Another body has been found," Rossi said quietly, "5 year old Evelyn Nervas."

I sighed and looked away from them. Why couldn't we crack this?

"Do you want to come to the dumpsite?" Hotch asked me as he grabbed his suit jacket that he had since removed.

I nodded and walked out behind him, Morgan by my side.

* * *

The scene was disturbing, sickening. My stomach churned when I saw the small girl, not much older than mine. I looked around at the site. It was just off the road, a frequent place for people to hunt. It wasn't deep into the forest, only just visible from the road. She was in a shallow ditch, kind of like a grave, but she was in a different position again. The last two bodies were both in different positions too. I had pulled the sheet away from her face and walked away almost instantly. I looked around in the area instead of the girl. Morgan and Hotch examined the girl and her external injuries before following me deeper into the forest trees. I jumped over a small stream of water and walked through more.

"Where are we going?" Morgan asked me.

"I've seen things like this before. The last time something similar to this happened there were more bodies further in," I explained, "Oh my god." I breathed as I stopped dead in my tracks before walking over a cliff. I held the tree next to me to keep myself up and looked down, the height frightening me.

"Any chance there has been any dumps in there?" Morgan asked us.

"There's a chance, but you'd never find them," One of the local police officers said from behind us, "That water is deeper than you'd expect."

I saw something move out the corner of my eye and looked to my left. I walked that way and I knew Hotch had seen it too. He grabbed my arm to keep me still before walking in front of me. There, we found a little boy. One that was unidentifiable by the way his face was so mutilated. I gasped quietly at the extent of the injury.

Hotch crouched at his side and Morgan told the policeman to go get some members of the team to cover this body too.

I searched around this area too and stopped at a footprint, "Fresh prints." I said to my team members. Before one of them had a chance to come look, something crashed into my left side and took me to the ground. My back hit the dirt hard and knocked my breath away.

"Hey!" Morgan yelled as he chased after whoever had just tackled me to the ground. I felt Hotch's hands on my arms, pulling me back to my feet. I stood and stumbled slightly, my balance off but quickly regaining.

"What the hell just happened?"

"I'm going to guess that it one of the unsubs…" Hotch said, looking at me, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." I nodded. I heard a gunshot and fear spread through me. I ran towards the sound, Hotch at my side, "Morgan!" I called.

"Prentiss, stop," Hotch grabbed my arm, "Stay here; it's dangerous with guns around."

"That is the father on my children," I snapped before running again. "Morgan!" I yelled again.

"Yeah!" He called back. I ran into a small clearing and stopped, allowing myself to breath as I saw him fine, on one knee, cuffing the suspect that he had shot in the shoulder. There was a gun lying not far from him. I walked over and picked it up, handing it to Hotch as he put his hand out. He didn't want me carrying a gun.

"One down." Morgan said as he stood and pulled the man with him. Just the sight of his face sent shivers down my spine. He was terrifying.

* * *

Hotch stayed close to my side as we went back to the Portland station. He was unnecessarily worried about how I was going after the confrontation even after I had assured him that I was okay several times.

"So he was revisiting the dumpsite?" JJ asked for clarification. Hotch nodded and JJ moved her eyes to me, "Are you okay?" I realised that I probably looked like I wasn't. I had my elbow on the table and my head resting on two fingers are the massaged my temple.

"I have a headache but it isn't because of that."

"Is it maybe because you haven't slept at all in over 24 hours?" Reid asked me, "Or because you drank 18 cups of coffee?

"Probably both," I nodded as I looked at Hotch, "Please let me have coffee?"

He sighed, "One cup."

"Thank you." I said as I stood and walked towards the break room. I made coffee for me and then for everyone else too. I brought it back to them and sat down, sipping it, "Oh, it's like heaven." I mumbled to myself quietly after the first taste.

"Okay, so he visited the dumpsites again and it must have been multiple times because that boy had been there for weeks. He was one of the first." Morgan said.

"So he's reliving it all, but nothing in his profile suggests that either of them would do that, let alone the male." JJ said.

"Remorse?" Reid suggested. "Maybe he's mourning them in regret and guilt of what he'd done?"

"Or he was just appreciating it again." Rossi added another possibility.

"We're missing something." Hotch said.

"Yeah, the other unsub." I said.

"No, in the profile."

"Well we have one. Break him down and we've got the other." Morgan said.

"If their siblings or a couple and their close, he might not give her up," I said, "Or even just close friends. If I had committed murders with any one of you and I got caught, I would just take all the blame to save your arses."

"How oddly sweet of you." JJ smiled with amusement.

We talked it all out and searched through everything again, making the man in the interrogation room wait. We wanted to see how worked up he'd get. Eventually, Hotch decided it was time and I stood behind the window with Morgan, JJ and Reid as Hotch and Rossi tried to get the answers they wanted. They didn't get what we needed so they decided to test a new approach. Send the females in, see how that pans out.

JJ and I walked in confidently, talking to each other about nothing so he saw himself as nothing more than a man sitting in a chair. He wasn't a threat to us and he wasn't worth our time. Or at least that's what we wanted him to think. We had done this before and it seemed to work then.

"Like seriously, you're my husband; you should never be talking to me like that." JJ said as we walked towards the table. I had no idea how he was talking to her or if it was real or not. She just started the second she opened the door.

"Yeah, I mean, I have no idea what would happen if Morgan ever spoke—" I stopped midsentence as my eyes widened. Why did I say his name? Of all the men I could have made up, I said Morgan. I looked at JJ with shock in my eyes. The _whole_ team, minus Garcia, would have heard his name come out of my mouth. _He_ would have heard his name come out of my mouth.

JJ raised her eyebrows and glanced at the mirror window where we knew our team was before returning her eyes to me, fighting the smirk forming on her lips. I cleared my throat awkwardly and sat down. I ruined our chances of agitating him that way so I had to move onto a new tactic quickly.


	14. Chapter 14

**POLL! POLL! POLL!**

 **Prentiss**

I walked into my apartment, my team behind me. I hadn't really had a "housewarming" yet and Garcia was too elated to let it slide so I invited them all over for drinks tonight. I assumed Reid would be here anyway to see Sarah and Morgan would probably have come to see Ainsley after the case of children anyway.

"Mummy!" Ainsley exclaimed eagerly as she ran up to me. I caught her when she jumped and lifted her up, hugging her to me. I kissed her hair a few times and held her until she let go of the cling she had around my neck. I put her down and she ran to Morgan and then JJ.

"Hey." Sarah smiled as she walked out, "Did you finally get them?" She asked as she hugged me. She moved to Reid as I replied.

"Eventually." I said with a sigh.

"The guy tackled Emily to the ground." Reid filled her in on that detail.

She looked at me with wide eyes, "I thought you said you'd be away from the danger."

"I didn't know he was going to be there." I lifted my hands in defence as I walked down the hall towards my room. I dropped my bag on my bed and walked back out. My team was sitting in the living room when I got there and Sarah was getting glasses and alcohol out. She gave me a glass of water.

"You enjoy that." She smirked, laughing at me.

"Oh, just what I need after a case with dead children—water," I rolled my eyes, "I hate being pregnant."

"I booked that appointment for next week, by the way." Sarah said, "The anomaly one that you had to cancel for the case."

I nodded, "Thanks."

"Do you book all of her appointments?" Reid asked her at his side.

"Well if I don't book them then she won't and she'll never go."

"I'd book it…eventually."

"Really? Because I distinctively remember you telling me that you were told to go back in for another check-up at 25 weeks with Ainsley and you never went."

"Well it wasn't mandatory…"

"It wasn't supposed to be optional." She shook her head.

Ainsley was sitting on Morgan's lap, leaning against him and playing with a stuffed toy lazily. She stopped fiddling with it and looked up at him, "Daddy? Will you and mummy ever be together?"

"What do you mean?" He asked. He knew what she was asking but he was buying himself some more time to think of a reply. The team fell silent and watched him as he thought his answer out.

"Like Sarah and Reid are together and JJ and Will."

Morgan hesitated, coming up empty with a response. I spoke so he didn't need to, "Honey, do you remember when I told you that sometimes people make mistakes and they don't always end up together like in fairy tales?"

"So you're not going to ever be together?"

I shook my head, "But that doesn't mean that we don't love you any less than JJ and Will love Henry."

"Did you love Mark?"

"Bedtime," I stood up and avoided answering that question, "Say goodnight."

She hugged and kissed Morgan, Sarah, JJ and Garcia and waved to the others before running into my arms. I lifted her up and walked to her room. I lay her down, tucked her in and kissed her goodnight before walking out and turning the light out as I went.

I stood outside of her door and pulled the chain of my necklace lightly to remove the pendant from my shirt and held it, viewing the ring on it. Mark had proposed to me two months before I came here and got pregnant again. I told him I didn't know yet so he said to wear it around my neck until I made a decision. He was having a good week away from his friends, spending it with Ainsley and I a few towns over so he was kind to us. He told me that if he saw the chain gone and my finger bare, then he'd know it's a no. If he saw the ring on my finger, then he'd know it was a yes.

"Hey," JJ said quietly. I looked up quickly and saw her at my side. She was looking at the ring, "You were pretty deep in thought there; you didn't hear me saying your name all the way down the hall."

"Sorry." I said quietly as I slipped it back down my shirt, hidden from everyone.

"Was that an engagement ring?"

I sighed and nodded before walking back up the hall. She followed me as I made my way to the living room. I picked up my glass of water, drank it back and then went to the kitchen to get another.

"Emily, stop. Talk to me." JJ said quietly, reaching me in the kitchen again.

"I don't want to talk about it, Jayje." I said in a tired voice.

"Is it from Mark?" She asked me at a normal volume. The team would have heard from the next room.

"I just said that I don't want to talk about it and I'm not going to talk about it, JJ. Forget about it." I said coldly.

She pressed her lips together and looked down, nodding, "Fine." She turned and walked back to the living room, shaking her head as she went. I drank two more glasses of water before filling it again and taking it to the living room with me. I sat back down and put the glass on the table.

"Don't you think it's time to take it off?" Sarah asked me quietly. I glared at her. "Oh come on, Emily. You're not going to marry him and we both know it. He's in jail now anyway and when he gets out, you can send it back to him or you can sell it or something; just don't keep it, let alone leave it hanging around your neck."

I didn't reply at all.

"What do I know? Maybe you will marry hi," She shrugged her shoulders, "Put it on your finger, go see him in jail, force Ainsley to live through that again. Have fun in your abusive relationship that will probably result in your death."

I shook my head and picked at my nails.

"Well what are you going to do? Keep it around your neck so it always reminds you of it just so you can stop yourself from letting some other guy into your life?"

"Stop, Sarah. You don't understand—"

"I don't understand? Are you kidding me? What do you think—"

"Do I need to tell you the same things I tell Ainsley? Life isn't like the fairy tales, Sarah!"

"Yours certainly isn't because you go for any guy that's fucked up! You see guys that a fucked and they're messing up everything their life could have consisted of with drugs and alcohol and crime and you try to fix them. You're helping no one by doing that; the only thing you're doing is putting you and your 4 year old daughter in constant danger!"

"It's not always roses and gifts, Sarah. Relationships include fights."

"Fights that consist of you being held up against the wall, not being able to breathe because his hand is so tight around your neck, a knife to your throat, being screamed at about something that doesn't even make sense in his drug haze and tears you try desperately to hold back because your daughter is in the room? Do you see Spence ever doing that to me in a fight? No, because he isn't abusive."

"Oh, don't bring him into it." I shook my head.

"I have to bring him into it! I have to bring your whole team into because they're the only people you listen to!"

I shook my head and bit my tongue to keep myself from yelling again.

"No, you're right. You don't listen to them. You don't listen to anyone anymore because you're fucking your life up three times more than any guy you've dated all put together and you don't want anyone to point that out to you. And on top of that, you're bringing your daughter down with you and you're bringing another child into it that you're just going to fuck up like you did with the first."

She had crossed a line there, bringing my children into it. I stood up and walked out of the room. I walked down the hall and threw a few outfits into my go bag that was on my bed. I slung it over my shoulder and walked back out, taking my car keys and making my way to the front door.

"You forgot your daughter." She said.

"You said it yourself; I'm just bringing her down with me. Why don't you raise her, seeing as you're so perfect and your life is so flawless."

"Where are you going?"

"Oh, just to party. You know, get drunk as fuck, mix the alcohol with all the different drugs I'll be taking, finding new guys to try and "fix"."

* * *

I had stayed at a hotel that night and went into the precinct this morning to get some paperwork that I forgot to grab on my way out yesterday. When I walked through the glass doors, I figured I'd find an almost empty bullpen around our area as the team had the weekend off but I saw Hotch in his office, about to leave it. He saw me before I had time to move out of sight. I continued to my desk and picked up the pile of work I had to complete and he stood beside me, "Are you okay?" He asked quietly.

"I'm fine." I said as I slid the work into my bag. I went to walk away but he grabbed my arm gently and pulled me back. I sighed and looked at him.

"Sarah told us everything."

"What do you mean by everything?"

"The countless criminals, alcoholics and drug users you've dated in the hopes to help them because you thought you weren't doing anything as an agent, the amount of times you had to move houses around London as a result of these, everything Mark did to you, everything that still causes you pain to think about, hear or feel because of him, the ring, the drug and alcohol problems you used to have, your suicide attempt…and much more."

"Ah…so literally everything," I said quietly, nodding. "I'm sorry, she shouldn't have told you all of that."

"Prentiss, we all understand that you cannot control who you love and we know that you did everything you did and you do everything you do to help whoever you can, but Mark was not the right choice for you," He shook his head, "He abused you, whether you want to admit it or not and we all think that you really need to let go of him. It's not fair on you or Ainsley to have to live with him and it isn't fair on you for him to always have a part in your life," He motioned to the necklace, "Yes, relationships have fights but they should never, under any circumstance, be any kind of abusive. We know that it really isn't our business and it's not up to us, but you normally value our opinions, so that's what we think. Take the necklace off and think about it." He gave me a small, comforting smile and walked to the doors. "Oh," He stopped and turned, "The whole team is at your place again already; they had questions about you that they would never dare to ask you and Morgan and Reid were there anyway."

I nodded and he walked out. I sat at my desk for a while and picked up the box I had in my bottom drawer behind the cardboard one that Garcia had put in there. She now called that my drawer of fun, similar to what she had done for Morgan. Little did she know, behind the cardboard box that made it the "drawer or fun" was actually something I kept from everyone that made it a not-so-fun drawer. That one box contained anything I had left from any of my several dark places I had been in my past. It was my box of the past. Photos of Ian, Declan and I, photos of Mark and I, photos of Mark, Ainsley and Sarah, photos of Sean and his family, photos of Tsia, Jeremy, Clyde and Sean back when we were a team. There were small things that Ian and Mark had given me; jewellery, individual types of small flowers with stems cut short to fit in the box. There was so much, it was filled to the top.

I decided not to open it here; I didn't want to break into tears in the precinct. I walked out with it and drove back to my apartment.

Once there, I took my bag to my room, got my paperwork and put it on my desk in the otherwise empty corner of the living room and walked to the dining room with the box. The team was in the living room but none of them dared to speak to me right now. Hotch was here again and smiled at me when I walked through.

I sat down in the dining and opened the box. I started to look through it and JJ came in before long. She called the others in as I put the things I already looked at down on the table and it was now full of things from my past. I was crying as I looked through at everything and I didn't bother telling them not to look because they were going to one way or another.

They stayed silent after I emptied the box. I started putting everything back into it. The handed it all to me and I unclipped the necklace from my neck. I did the lock up so the ring wouldn't fall off and I looked at it for a short while, twisting the ring round and round on my fingers. I kissed it and put it in the box before putting the lid on.

"I'm sorry, Em." Sarah said quietly after a while.

I stood up and picked the box up, "Never bring my children into something like that again." I said quietly and coldly as I walked out. I went to my room and slid the box into the back of my wardrobe. When I closed the wardrobe door, I saw Morgan standing in the doorway. "What?"

"Sarah was right, Emily. You needed to take it off. You'll feel a lot better about yourself soon enough now that it isn't a constant reminder."

"Maybe I liked the reminder."

"You're not going to admit that she was right, are you?"

"Morgan, I can admit that she was right about taking it off, but she was wrong to tell me how she did and she was wrong to bring it up in front of everyone. She was wrong to recount everything that happened to me, she was wrong to bring my children into it and she was wrong to tell you all everything."

"She was trying to help you."

"And what a great job she did." I nodded.

"You're being petty." He shook his head.

"I'm not in the mood to argue with you." I had just noticed that I still have tears in my eyes and on my cheeks. He walked over and hugged me, placing a kiss on my forehead.

"I know it was hard for you." He whispered quietly. He was very empathic and I then remembered his past and how hard it was for him to let go of it. He understood me for the most part. Not the love involvement in the situation, but almost everything else, or at least the basics. I hugged him back and we parted after a short while. He wiped my tears away and smiled at me, "We're proud of you for that, though."

I smiled to myself and looked down, "Thanks…now we should go back out before they think we're sleeping together again."

We walked out and I was met by Ainsley as she ran into my arms, "Mummy, are you okay?"

"Yeah honey, I'm just fine." I smiled at her and kissed her cheek. I put her down and she ran off with Henry. He and Will must have gotten here while Morgan and I were in my room. I sat down, "So, what are everyone's plans for today?" I tried to start a new conversation.


	15. Chapter 15

**Prentiss**

Morgan drove back to the precinct after the anomaly scan at the hospital. The child was healthy, developing properly and there were no problems found. The baby had started kicking later than many second pregnancies but I could feel it often since the end of last week. We were silent for a while before I decided to break it.

"Do you want to baptise Ainsley?" I asked him quietly, looking to him.

He glanced at me briefly before looking back to the road, "If you want."

"Morgan, I ask if _you_ want to. I don't mind whether we do or not."

"Then why bring it up?"

"Because maybe you want it like that…and I don't know, I feel like we should give her godparents, considering the career we're in."

"Would you choose Sarah, JJ or Garcia?"

"I would probably choose JJ to be honest. Sarah's younger; she still has her own life to live and her own kids to have. Plus, Ainsley is named after JJ and it just seems like it should be her, but it depends on what you think. I figured that this one would be named after Garcia so she would be her godmother."

He nodded, "And godfathers?"

"You're meant to have a say in this too. You're not supposed to just go with what I say unless it's actually what you want."

"JJ and Garcia sound fine," He said, "Besides, I didn't get a say in anything else; why should I now?" We pulled into the precinct lot and got out of the car. He walked towards the building quickly, locking the car as he went with the button lock. I followed behind him, too far to have this conversation privately.

"Morgan, come on. Stop." I said as we walked through the safety precautions set up to get through the building. He walked to the elevators and I followed behind him, "Please talk to me."

He stepped in and stood in silence, watching as the numbers ticked over until we reached the sixth floor. I took the short time to think of what to say. "It wasn't fair on me for you to block me out for that long, Prentiss." He said quietly as he walked out and towards the glass doors.

"I know it wasn't but how many times do you want me to apologise? I can't just go back and change everything but I would if it were possible. I don't know what else you want me to do."

"You shouldn't need to do anything now because you should have told me when you first knew." He said as he walked over to our desks.

"Well I didn't and I'm sorry but I can't change it now, Morgan. What do you expect me to do?"

"Let me be a part of this one's life."

"You _are_ a part of Ainsley's life, a very big part, and I was never going to push you away from this one." I shook my head.

"No, but you seem to have a habit of leaving."

"Hey, I only left once with the information of it. I had no idea I was pregnant when I left 4 years ago."

"Twice," He corrected, "You came about four or five months after you found out, left without telling me, came back, slept with me and then left without telling me again."

I sighed and closed my eyes briefly to calm myself as I saw the team approaching, "I said I was sorry about keeping it from you and I have continued to apologise. I am _still_ sorry that I kept Ainsley from you but I'm not going to make the same mistake this time. If you want to be in her life, you will be. If you don't, then I'll keep her away from you."

"Of course I want to be a part of her life; I just said that."

"Hey guys, how'd the appointment go?" JJ asked as the team reached us.

Neither of us answered, we stood looking at each other, me with an apologetic and soft expression and him with one of anger and disappointment.

"Oh, that sounds great." JJ said sarcastically. When neither of us so much as glanced, she put her hand up and clicked in front of me face, "Hey, hello?"

I looked at her now, letting Morgan win that stare down. "Hi."

"So?"

"It's fine, everything's fine." I nodded.

"And the gender?" Reid smiled.

I looked back at Morgan, "Are we telling them or not?" He shrugged his shoulders and walked to his desk silently, sitting down and opening a file.

"Uh…what's wrong with hot chocolate over there?" Garcia asked, "Is everything not fine?"

"The baby's fine, Morgan is angry with me."

"Why?" Rossi asked.

I sighed and looked down, "Because I didn't tell him about Ainsley sooner and because he thinks I'm going to leave with this one." I motioned to my stomach.

"…Are you? Going to leave?" Reid asked quietly.

"No," I shook my head, "Morgan wants to be a part of its life and so he will be."

"Well you've apologised enough, what more does he want?" JJ asked.

Morgan spoke before I could, "I want you to stay out of it, JJ." His voice was agitated and tired. She opened her mouth to shoot back but I stopped her and shook my head.

"Don't, you'll just make it worse." My voice was tired too.

"Well let's move from that topic back to this one. Gender?" Garcia asked again, putting her hand on my bump. "Oh! It kicked again!"

I had a frown on my lips now, discomfort and pain in my eyes, "Yeah, she has been all day. It really hurts."

"… _She?_ " Hotch smirked.

I smiled and nodded, "She."

"Ah! Another baby girl!" Garcia said excitedly, throwing her hands around me and pulling me into a hug. I returned it and hugged the equally excited JJ next. Reid hugged me, Rossi kissed both my cheeks and Hotch kissed one cheek and hugged me briefly as a congratulations.

"Congratulations, Morgan!" JJ said with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks." He said quietly.

I bit my lip and my mood dropped again. I hated that he was still hurt and angry with me. I hated that I had caused so much pain for him. Sure, he got to see her whenever possible now, but he missed the first 4 years of her life. He missed watching her develop from a newborn to a toddler, he missed her first smile, first word, first steps. He missed the first time she laughed; he never experienced the feeling of her running up to him when she had just learnt and being able to swipe her up with joy and pride. He missed the first time she sung a full song by herself, the first letter she ever drew. He didn't get to help teach her anything of those ages. He didn't watch with anticipation as she tried to write her name day in, day out. He didn't know that the second word she ever said was 'daddy' and I had never told him that.

I walked over to his desk and waited for him to acknowledge me. He looked up and waited for me to speak, "The second word she ever spelt out clearly was 'daddy'," I said quietly, "Her second word was 'daddy', the one thing she remembered every morning and before bed every day was to kiss daddy. I know it wasn't fair on you to be oblivious to the fact that you had a daughter and even worse that you never got to watch her develop through those first four years. It wasn't fair on you to miss the first word, smile, laugh or step. None of this is fair on you, but as much as I would and want to, I can't change what I did, but you have her now and you can see her anytime you want or do whatever you want with her to make her happy. I can't change the past, but I can decide what I do for the future and I know that never will I dare to leave and take her away from you, Derek.  
"You can witness everything with this one and you know that. I'm not stopping you from being in their lives." I put my hand over my stomach where I felt her kick again, the small pain making me uncomfortable; I took his hand and placed it over where she was moving.

"That's so weird." He said quietly once he took his hand away.

I smiled, "At least you're feeling it from the outside." He laughed at me and I knew at this point that it was forgiveness he was granting me. "I'm so sorry, Morgan." I said quieter.

He smiled at me guilty, "No, I'm sorry. You've apologised enough and I just keep making you feel bad about it over and over again. I know it can't change now," He assured, "I just wish you—never mind."

"No, you can't do that." I shook my head.

"Do what?"

"Start a sentence like that in this conversation and then stop and change your mind. Tell me."

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it."

"Morgan—"

"Kiss me." He cut me off.

I looked at him in shock, "What?"

"That shut you up, didn't it?" He smirked and laughed at my stunned face. "Get to work now, princess." So it was a joke. I wasn't sure whether I was happy or not when he had said those two words. I was longing to hear them 6 months ago back when I was still in London and trying to plan my trip back here. Now, I wasn't sure I felt about any of this. Did I love him or did I love the idea of being with the father of my children? If I gave it a few weeks, months even, maybe the emotions would become clearer to me. I'd have to give it time.

* * *

I walked into the apartment after a long day at work. I had stopped by Garcia's on my way home to borrow a book and I spent some time with Sergio. Sarah and Reid were now on the couch and hadn't heard my entry. It was strange to me to see Reid kissing someone. He always seemed so awkward and single by choice, but he didn't look awkward at all right now. I watched for a few more seconds before I realised how weird this was and I walked into the open living room. They still hadn't noticed me, their eyes closed as their lips caressed each other's.

I laughed to myself quietly, "That's how I got pregnant." They parted instantly, startled by my presence. Reid put his hand over his mouth and looked in the opposite direction of me. Sarah looked at me and rolled her eyes.

"How long were you standing there?"

"I only just walked in," I laughed, "I'm going to kiss Ainsley goodnight and watch a movie in my room, so carry on. Don't get too loud." I winked and walked back down the hall. I opened my door and threw my bag to the bed. I stood in the doorway and listened hard.

"…She said carry on…" I heard Sarah say quietly. I recognised Reid's small laugh and then silence fell in the house apart from the quiet whisper of their lips connecting again. I shook my head to myself and walked to the next room, opening Ainsley's door silently and walking in. I brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead before walking back out, closing the door again. I heard the small click of the door and I decided that I wanted to shower before I went to bed. I grabbed my bath robe and went to the bathroom. I showered, brushed my hair out and lay in my bed, watching whatever movie I picked out of the pile in the cabinet underneath my TV. They were mostly films that were either too inappropriate for a four year old or too complicated for a four year old.


	16. Chapter 16

**Two more days for the poll guys!**

 **Prentiss**

"So I contacted the church around the corner to see their rules on godparents." I said to Morgan.

"What'd they say?"

"Four is their maximum and they don't have to have relations or anything. So I was thinking, and you can say no, JJ, Will, Reid and Sarah for Ainsley and Garcia, Hotch and Rossi for this one." I pointed to my stomach.

He nodded, "Sounds good. And the middle name for her with be Penelope?" He asked, referring to our unborn daughter.

"That was the plan if that's how you want it."

He nodded again, "Are you thinking of first names?"

"I'm thinking, but we've got time. Also, we can change Ainsley's last name if you want."

"To Morgan?" He asked me. I nodded in response and he smiled, "You don't have to do that."

"It's a yes or no thing."

"Well, I wouldn't argue but I don't want to change it if you like her having your last name."

"So we'll change it then," I rolled my eyes, "Why can't you just make decisions?" I laughed and he joined me. Sarah and Reid walked in then and Sarah hung her coat up. Reid followed and hung his up too. It was nearing the end of spring but it was cool out today. "Hey." I smiled.

Sarah smiled at me, "Are we interrupting something?" She thought that we'd be dating by now and she was waiting for the day. I told her constantly that the day she was anticipating probably wouldn't ever come.

"No, we were just talking." I shook my head.

"About what?" Her smile turned to a smirk.

"Godparents. I'm thinking of taking you off the list."

"Hey, don't take me out. What have you decided?"

"You'll both find out when we finalise our decisions and speak with the others."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine. Are you two staying in today?"

"No and neither are you. We're going to Rossi's and we're going to be late if we don't leave like, 10 minutes ago…" I didn't miss the knowing smirks exchanged between the three of them. They knew something I didn't.

"Is Ainsley coming?"

"Yes," I nodded, "Are you both ready?"

She turned and took both their coats, "Yeah."

"Ains! Let's go!" I called up the hallway. She ran up with one arm in her jacket. The other sleeve was inside out and she was struggling.

"Help please mummy." She said, running to me. I crouched and helped her out. "Thank you." She went to Morgan and he lifted her up. Neither Morgan nor Reid had their cars so I was driving all five of us. Sarah's car was in the mechanic shop getting something fixed.

I grabbed my coat and carried it out with me. "Lock the door behind you, Sarah." I said.

* * *

Reid, Sarah and Morgan had gone inside quickly as I unbuckled Ainsley's safety belt and lifted her out of the car. I locked the car and carried her up to the house. I walked in and jumped as they all yelled "surprise!" loudly. They startled Ainsley too but she saw Henry and Jack so she wriggled from my arms and ran off with them.

"What the hell?" I took a breath as I closed the door behind me.

"Well we were planning a baby shower but after all our preparation, we got too excited to wait so we're having it early." JJ smiled.

"And we know, it's normally just a female thing, but we changed it because you only have three female friends and that wasn't enough," Garcia said, "Well, three female friends that we know of. I don't want to know the others."

I smiled, "Guys." I looked around at the pink decorations everywhere. I looked at Rossi, "You actually approved to have it here?"

"No," He shook his head, "But JJ is very forceful."

"Well thanks guys." I smiled and stepped forwards. JJ hugged me first and I moved around to all of them.

"Come on!" Garcia said excitedly, grabbing my hand and pulling me into the living room. She and JJ both looked so excited. Sarah was glued to Reid's side, both smiling. Hotch and Rossi looked like they were happy to be here, although they probably would have preferred something a little less party like or pink. Morgan was smiling, but I couldn't really tell how he was feeling about this. I didn't know whether he would prefer to be somewhere else or if he didn't mind being here.

The living room had more decoration than the foyer. This probably cost them a small fortune. There was pink and yellow everywhere and I knew now that Rossi would never had approved this in his home voluntarily. "My god, you went all out, didn't you?"

"This isn't even much." JJ shook her head.

"It is." I disagreed, nodding.

"Nothing is too much for you," Garcia smiled, "It should be perfect, but we didn't have the resources to make it perfect."

"They have music. Children's music." Rossi said in an unsatisfied voice.

I smiled at him, "I'm so sorry that this had to happen here."

"He reacted worse to this than he does to any crime scene." Reid said. I snickered and sat down on one of the couches as everyone else did.

"Will is coming soon; he just finished his shift so he's going to have a shower first." JJ smiled.

"Ah, to work as a cop with shift work. Maybe I should rethink what I do for a living."

"You love your job, just not when you're pregnant." Rossi smirked.

"I just want to shoot a damn gun at a bad guy!" I pouted. They all laughed at me and Garcia handed drinks to everyone. Alcohol for them, water for me. "I'll tell you what, the only reason I am so excited to have this baby out of me is so I can drink."

"The moment you're okay to do so, we're hiring a babysitter for all four kids and we're all getting hella drunk." JJ said.

"Hallelujah." I smirked before sipping the water. I put my hand on Morgan's arm, "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to name her Vodka."

"Oh, she'll be one popular kid in school." He laughed.

* * *

I walked inside my apartment with Ainsley asleep in my arms. I walked up the hall quietly and lay her in bed, careful not to wake her as I moved her into a comfortable position and tucked her in. I closed her door over and walked back down the hall, dropping to the couch against the wall in the living room. Sarah and Reid were already sitting there.

"Are you staying here tonight?" I asked him.

"Yes." Sarah replied before he had a chance. I nodded and looked at the table in the middle of the couches, my hand over my abdomen as the baby kicked. "So…can I ask you something?" I looked at her and waited for her to ask. "Do you love him?"

"Love who?" I acted oblivious.

"Morgan obviously," She rolled her eyes, "I mean, you were always together today. You were like magnets, he'd move a few steps and then you'd subconsciously move a few steps and the same vice versa. When we were eating the cupcakes and you didn't want one and he put the cream on your face, it was a move people pull in relationships. It was a cute move."

"It wasn't a "move" Sarah, he was being him…"

"Okay, it just seemed like there was something there."

"There will always be "something" there; he's the father of my children, but sometimes that something isn't enough."

"So you do love him?"

I looked at Reid at her side, "If you're going to be around, anything you hear in this room stays in this room and between the three of us and the three of us only." I said to him. He nodded and I looked back to Sarah, "I honestly cannot tell you whether I do love him or I do not."

"So there's a chance you do, but you just don't know yet?"

"Yes."

She smiled, "I personally think that you two fit together like pieces in a puzzle."

I sighed and stood up, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

"Night." She said quietly.

"Goodnight." Reid smiled at me as I walked out.

I went down the hall and double checked on Ainsley as I passed her room before continuing to mine. I closed the door behind me and dropped down to the bed, lying on my back and staring at the roof. I was so confused right now as to what I felt about Morgan. Sometimes I felt like I loved him and other times I didn't. I was scared to love him. I didn't want to ruin anything in the team or my daughter but I also didn't want to ruin anything in him or myself. If I did decide that I loved him and we happened to date and it didn't last, I wouldn't be the same. It would destroy me and Ainsley and the other baby.

I realised as I thought about the consequences of splitting that I had too many. I knew how I would feel and I realised that I had thought about this before on multiple occasions. I thought about being with him and then breaking up with him, being with him and marrying him, being with him and being the perfect family. I thought about it all too much for me to _not_ feel anything.

I did. I loved him.

Shit.


	17. Chapter 17

**Prentiss**

We were called to a case on Monday morning, just two hours into our desk work after the weekend and the baby shower. It was Wednesday afternoon now and my day had been particularly tiresome and moody so far. I was having extreme swings in my mood, happy on minute, angry the next, sad and then frustrated, happy again. It was throwing the whole team off, not just me.

"Not easy having a pregnant woman here, huh?" I asked Hotch, Rossi and Reid with a smirk. They all looked afraid to answer that. I laughed to myself, "Don't worry, I know it's difficult on everyone. I'm sorry."

"It's pregnancy." Rossi shrugged his shoulders. I smiled at him appreciatively for his understanding.

I stood and walked to the board as Morgan and JJ walked in. Morgan was holding his phone in front of him and I heard Garcia typing over the speaker. "She hasn't been able to find anything on it." JJ said as they sat down.

"Alright, so let's throw some ideas out there." Rossi said, sitting forwards.

"He's a sociopath with a bad past, so he doesn't feel remorse over what he does." JJ said.

"Right, so he probably wouldn't revisit sites or anything." Morgan added to her statement.

"Maybe he's doing it for the emotion," I said quietly, "Maybe he abducts them and makes them feel different emotions so that he can mimic them or something. Sociopaths don't feel emotion like we do, right?"

"But they are aware of that fact." Reid confirmed, nodding.

"So maybe he's curious as to what it's like and—oh my god! Stop kicking me!" I stressed as I looked down at my baby bump. I looked back up at my team as amused smiles spread on their faces and they held their laughs back, "Sorry…maybe he's curious as to what it's like and wants to try and experience it the way someone who isn't a sociopath does." I started again.

They nodded and the ideas kept getting thrown around for a while. I sat down and stared at the board as we did, speaking when I had something worth saying. Eventually, we decided to take a break from this. Reid stood and walked to the front of the board, leaning on the table beside me and crossing his arms. His lips moved quickly as he read and spoke to himself quietly. JJ and Morgan went to get coffee from the break room in the Denver police station.

"So how are you feeling?" Hotch asked me once silence had fallen momentarily.

I looked at him, "Exhausted."

"Would you like to go to the hotel and get some sleep or go home?"

"No," I shook my head, "Thank you though."

He motioned to the couch against the wall behind him, "You can go to sleep here if you want."

I smiled, "I'm not exhausted in terms of sleep; I'm exhausted in terms of this pregnancy draining me."

"I don't know how to help you with that, sorry." He shook his head.

I smiled, "Yeah, me neither."

"My guess is coffee would help," Rossi said, "If only those two would hurry up with it."

"They've been there a while." Reid said quietly, not even glancing away from the board. I used the table subtly to assist me in standing up and Reid looked at me, "Where are you going?"

"To find them." I said as I turned and walked out of the room we were stationed in. I walked through the station towards the break room and saw them sitting at the table in there, talking about something. I stood beside the door against the wall so they didn't know I was there and listened in.

"Morgan, Emily is one of those women who try to rely on their independence and try to be happy on their own but they always end up happier when with someone they love." JJ said to him. They were talking about me.

"Yes, but you have no idea whether she loves me or not. She went on a date a few weeks ago. Maybe she's interested in someone else."

"Has she gone on a second date with this guy?"

"I don't think so. Reid doesn't think so."

"Has she seen anyone else?"

"Not that I know of."

"She's open." I could hear the smirk in JJ voice.

"And how bad would it be if she didn't love me?"

"Morgan, come on. I've seen the way she looks at you, we all have. How have you _not_ noticed it?"

"Noticed what?"

"She loves you. Now the question is, do you love her?" There was silence for a few seconds, "Honestly, do you?"

"Yeah," I heard him say quietly, "More than I ever thought possible."

"Why do you love her? Give me a list of things you love about her."

He sighed, "She's beautiful and intelligent, she has an amazing sense of humour that covers so many different areas, she has the most amazing smile, she's one of the kindest people I've met that can still kick arse, she's tough and she doesn't run away from difficult things…most of the time. The times we slept together were exceptions…" The both laughed, "Just her presence puts the biggest smile on my face, she's an amazing mother, her smile just lights up everything in any situation. Her eyes are the most beautiful, extravagant brown I've ever seen. They're so dark that they're almost black but they're stunning. Brown eyes always seem so plain and just…brown...until you fall in love with something with eyes that colour. Then they're the most beautiful things in the world. Brown is no longer boring to me; it's a whole new level of beautiful."

"Morgan, you give her that list and you win her over." JJ was still smiling. I let out the breath that I had unintentionally held in. I walked away from the break room quickly and went to the bathroom.

I stood in front of the mirror and stared at myself. What was he even talking about? I turned the water on and spread some up my arms to cool me down. I thought back to what I just heard and I found myself remembering seeing Hotch, Rossi and Reid looked at me with confused and suspicious looks as I moved quickly from the wall and towards the bathroom. They were watching me stand there and listen. I took a deep breath and looked in the mirror again. I shook my head and snickered to myself and how ridiculous this was. Was I just imagining them having that whole conversation? A part of me wanted that to be true, for it to be an imaginary conversation, but a much bigger part of me hoped that the conversation really happened.

I walked out of the bathroom and jumped slightly at the three men standing outside, "Jesus Christ, what are you doing?" I asked them.

Rossi and Reid glanced at each other as Hotch spoke, "What just happened there?"

"What?"

"Well we didn't want to ask Morgan or JJ in case you weren't supposed to be listening to them…but you looked so upset or disappointed when you hurried away to hide out here." Rossi said.

I sighed, "So I didn't just imagine you three standing across the room watching me?"

"No," Reid shook his head with a confused look, "Why would you imagine that?"

"I think I'm going insane." I said quietly as I walked passed them. They walked a step behind me as I made my way back to the main room of the station and Morgan and JJ appeared in front of me. I jumped, "My god."

"Hey…" JJ looked confused.

"Hey." I said quickly before moving passed the two of them quickly. I went to the smaller room we were situated in and sat down, opening the file in front of the seat I was previously in and pretended to be interested and thinking when they walked in.

"Okay, that was weird." JJ said to me.

"Hm?" I looked up from the paper, pretending not to hear her. I picked my phone up and texted "SOS" to Sarah while still keeping my eyes off the phone as much as I could.

"You were just startled by Morgan and I and then you were _way_ too quick to get away from us for it to be normal…"

My phone rang and flashed with Sarah's number, "Uh…hold that thought. Sorry, I have to take this," I stood as I accepted the call, "Thank you." I said to Sarah as I walked out of the room. I said it too early, they might have heard me.

"What's going on? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just needed to get out of a really awkward conversation."

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Emily. You couldn't have said "get me out of this conversation" or "call to save me" instead of "SOS"? I was freaking out over here."

"Sorry, there wasn't time for details."

"So what's going on? Who was the awkward conversation with?"

"…The team…"

"What happened? I'm so confused."

"Well Morgan—"

"Oh no…it involved Morgan?"

"Well you'd know if you didn't cut me off."

"Sorry, continue."

"Uh…I can't. Hotch is coming," I said quieter, "Okay, I'll book an appointment soon when I'm back in town. Thanks for the call." I pretended to be talking to a doctor.

"No problem." Sarah laughed. I hung up and looked up as Hotch reached me.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, the doctor just wants to do a check-up. It's not serious or anything, she just wants to make sure it's all going okay. Considering my age, I don't blame her."

"Yeah, you're not that old…"

"I'm just guessing that that's the reason." I shrugged my shoulders. He was very clearly suspicious but he decided against questioning me anymore. He nodded and we walked back to the team.

"Who was that?" JJ asked.

"Doctor." I said casually, sitting back down.

"Is everything okay?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah, she just wants to do an easy check-up to make sure it's all going smoothly." I nodded. I spoke too quickly, feeling slightly uncomfortable speaking to him at the moment. "So, let's look at all this again." I turned to the board, trying to get them to now focus on the work and not me.

* * *

"So what was the awkward conversation?" Sarah asked me quietly in the kitchen. We were in the kitchen and the team was only across the room around the dining table.

"I'll tell you later but don't bring it up in front of anyone; not even Reid."

"What are we whispering about?" Reid asked quietly from behind Sarah. She jumped slightly, unaware that he was behind her, but she calmed as he slid his arm around her waist.

"Nothing. We're whispering about nothing." I said quickly and lifted the appetisers we had prepared and took them to the dining table. I realised that I hadn't whispered that and now the whole team was looking at me with suspicion.

"Smooth." Sarah said with a smirk as she passed me and sat down at the table.

"What is going on with you lately?" Rossi asked me.

"… _mummy_ …" I faked in Ainsley's voice. It sounded nothing like her anyway, "Oh, Ainsley needs me." I walked out quickly before they could speak again. I entered the living room and saw Ainsley watching a movie quietly with Henry and Jack. All three of them looked extremely tired and about ready to go to sleep. I smiled to myself and kissed my daughters hair as I walked through.

I made my way down the hall and into the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror to calm myself, "Stop acting like this. They don't know you heard them; just pretend you didn't hear anything." I spoke to myself quietly.

"What are you doing?" Garcia asked from the doorway behind me. I looked at her through the mirror and looked down. She walked in and closed the door behind her, "Seriously, tell me what's going on because I was just told that you've been weird all week."

"Not all week," I shook my head, "Just since Wednesday."

"Well what happened on Wednesday that has left you so awkward and quiet with the whole team."

"It's a long story, but I—" I stopped when a knock on the interrupted. Garcia opened it and Sarah walked in.

"Nice setting. What's going on?"

"Something happened on Wednesday that made her act weird and awkward," Garcia explained, "Tell us."

"On Wednesday, we took a break from brainstorming ideas on the case and Morgan and JJ went to get coffee for everyone. They were in the break room for a really long time and I _really_ needed coffee so I went to see what was going on and they were sitting down in there. I stood hiding beside the door and I listened to them. They were talking about me. JJ was asking him questions and telling him that I loved him and then he admitted that he loved me to her. _Morgan_ told _JJ_ that he loved _me_. And then she asked him to tell her a list of why he loved me and he gave a really long one and I walked away because it was emotional and scary and I have no idea what to do. Rossi, Hotch and Reid _saw_ me listening to them and they saw me walk away looking upset and disappointed."

"Why were you upset and disappointed?" Sarah asked.

"I wasn't, I just apparently looked it. I was surprised and scared of what that was going to do to me. So I've been trying to avoid the both of them in case I slip up and say I heard them and I'm trying to distance myself from him so he doesn't have the chance to tell me any of that."

"Emily, you _do_ love him, don't you?"

"I don't know."

"You know, you just need to think about it for a few seconds and you'll have an answer." Garcia said.

I looked down and thought about Friday night after the baby shower where I thought about it and discovered that I did, followed by a night of tears. I had no idea what I was doing in my life right now. I was just winging everything.

I looked up at them and Sarah raised her eyebrows, "So? You do or you don't?"

I bit my lip and they both knew it was a yes. They both looked elated at the news and they were jumping up and down in joy, squealing like little girls in middle school.

"Shh," I hissed at them and grabbed their arms to stop their jumping, "They'll hear you."

"Okay, so if you love him, why don't you tell him or let him tell you?" Garcia asked.

"Because I don't want to," I shook my head, "I…I don't want to ruin what we have now." Right now, we sat at something more than a friendship; it was more like a bond that Ainsley and the unborn baby had tied us in. He meant a lot to me, but I didn't want it to get too far. I didn't want to break his heart, I didn't want him to break mine and I didn't want to break Ainsley's. I didn't want to risk it just to find that it won't work out how we'd hoped and we were left like those parents who take their child one week and then the other takes her the next and we talk strictly about her and nothing else. I would have to leave the BAU again if that happened.

"I think you need to take the chance." Sarah said.

"I think I need some time to think about what I'm doing with my life right now." I said quietly.

"Okay, someone is going to come looking for us soon and it'll be weird to find us all in the bathroom together. Let's go back." Garcia said.

"Play it cool please? Don't give anything away and don't say a word about it to anyone."

We walked back to the dining room and sat down with the silent team. Garcia was smirking at Morgan. "What?" He asked her. She moved her eyes and smirked at JJ.

"Garcia, that's not playing it cool." Sarah said to her quietly across the table. I groaned and dropped my head into my arms.

"Remind me never to tell the two of you anything ever again."

"Uh…Em?" JJ asked quietly.

"Hm?" I hummed and looked at her, my elbow on the table and my head resting in my hand. The table was still completely silent.

"Did you happen to overhear something in the break room during the case?" She asked me hesitantly, glancing at Morgan.

I made myself look confused as I shook my head, "No?" I think it played it rather well.

"Are you sure?" Morgan asked.

"Was I supposed to overhear something?" I asked them.

"No," They both said in unison, "We just thought you might have heard a thing or two." JJ added.

"Well I don't think I did." I shook my head. Sarah and Garcia kept their smirks back as they looked at me.

Garcia started a conversation and I looked at Hotch at my side. He was looking at me with narrowed eyes and a suspicious look. He, Rossi and Reid knew I had heard it. The only people here that didn't know I heard it was Morgan, JJ and Will. I bit my lip and shook my head as if to tell him not to mention it. When I glanced at Rossi, he was looking too, appearing just as suspicious. Reid was too, although he was quickly distracted by Sarah.


	18. Chapter 18

**The last day for the poll, guys :)**

 **Prentiss**

Nothing had happened in the past four months between Morgan and I. For months, I would always be "busy" or pretend to be asleep when he came to see Ainsley outside of work, I stopped going out for dinner and drinks with the team and we kept everything professional for the most part at work. The team had noticed my behaviour and I didn't doubt that he had too. Garcia had slipped up about a week after I told her about Morgan and JJ's conversation and she spoke about it at work…in front of the whole team. Thankfully, I wasn't at work now. I was on maternity leave, although I still helped out from home and I often asked Reid to bring me anything I needed to do after the day at work. He was here a lot.

I was due to give birth on the 20th of September. Today was the 5th and I was scared, despite it being my second birth and not the first. I was terrified with Ainsley, but this wasn't as bad. I knew what was coming and I would know how to keep myself calm when the time came but I was still afraid of the risks. I had a wooden stick shoved through my stomach, I have experienced several injuries in the past and I wasn't exactly a "young" mother. There were risks with Ainsley and there were even more risks now.

I limited my communication with Morgan to be through text and only either about work, Ainsley or appointments or anything to do with the unborn baby.

I was supposed to be restricting my activities to easy things that wouldn't tire me out but I was chasing Ainsley every day, playing with her or trying to catch her. I was doing more housework than I normally would and I took Ainsley out more than I should have been doing. I took her into the precinct a few times after cases when they had just returned and were all a bit down.

I was praying that there wouldn't be a case at the time I was in labour; I needed someone with me. Sarah needed to be with Ainsley and I assumed either Morgan or JJ would come in with me.

Sarah and Reid weren't here last night and I was starting to worry about where she was. She didn't have a shift at the bar and Reid was at work by now. I was thinking about calling her before she walked through the front door, a beaming smile on her face. She hung her coat and walked into the living room, "Hey."

"Hi there," I smirked, "Where were you last night?"

"With Spencer." Her smile hadn't dropped.

I gasped, "You had sex."

Her eyes widened in surprise, "How did you get that from "with Spencer"?"

"You're smiling and you can't stop and also, I'm a profiler, I know when you got laid the night before."

"Working in that team must be fun." She shook her head.

"It's not when you can clearly tell that Rossi or Hotch got laid. Seriously, it's kind of disturbing sometimes. It is, however, a godsend gift when you can tell when Garcia and JJ have." I nodded.

She laughed.

"So, tell me everything. The night from start to finish."

"Where's Ainsley?"

"Drawing in the dining room."

"Okay." Her smile grew as she bounced and she crossed her legs tightly underneath her, sitting up straight with a very wide grin, "So we went out for dinner at that really beautiful Italian restaurant a few blocks from his apartment."

"Fancy." I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes well, we're a fancy couple," She flicked her hair and we laughed, "But we had the most amazing meal and we never ran out of things to talk about. There were jokes and we laughed all night and it was just perfect. Then we went and got ice cream because you know how much I love ice cream, and we walked around for about an hour, eating the ice cream and then just talking. And we went back to his apartment and when I thought the night couldn't get any better, oh my god." She explained in detail and I was laughing so much. I was happy for them and I was happy that Reid had finally found a girl who didn't judge him for his personality or get irritated every time he spoke about something scientific or fact-filled.

"Aw, you're in love." I said with adoration in my voice. She hadn't stopped smiling through the whole recount of the night. My phone buzzed and I broke into laughter at JJ's text.

"What?"

"JJ just texted me _"99% sure Reid got laid last night"_." We both laughed. _"That he did!"_ I replied to her.

* * *

"Hey, it's a pretty cold fall this year so do you want me to take the light baby blanket out and put a warmer one into the hospital ready bag for when you bring her home?" Sarah asked me. I was lying on one couch, careful not to move as I hurt my back earlier today chasing Ainsley again, and the team were on the other couches. Sarah was sitting on the ground, leaning against Reid's legs and Garcia was lying on her stomach on the ground in front of me, flicking through a magazine.

"Yes please." I smiled at her. Sarah nodded and went to do it now before she forgot.

"Mummy, where are my hair ties?" Ainsley asked me from the doorway between the living room and the hallway.

"I don't know, honey. Did you look in the top drawer next to the sink in the bathroom?"

"No." She stood and looked at me, waiting for me to know where they were.

"…Then go look there?"

"Can you help me?"

"No, honey, I can't get up." I shook my head.

"Why can't you get up?" Morgan asked me, concern in his voice. I forgot that the team didn't know about my back. I didn't want them to worry.

"Um…uh…" I looked at Sarah as she walked back in.

"She hurt her back really bad this morning," She said, "That's why she hasn't moved an inch since you all got here."

"Mummy!" Ainsley called for me.

I groaned and dropped my head back.

"I'll go." Sarah smiled and stood up again. She walked out and silence fell over us momentarily. My head dropped to the side to rest against the back of the couch and I closed my eyes. I could have fallen asleep within another few minutes but Sarah came back in and hit my foot lightly. I made a frustrated noise and opened my eyes, looking at her. "Bed." She said.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to get up."

"You don't look _that_ comfortable."

"I'm not getting up because it's embarrassing."

She rolled her eyes, "What if they all close their eyes for thirty seconds while Spencer and I help you up and you leave the room?"

"Then I probably would get up." I nodded. Reid and Sarah pulled me up and I walked towards the hall. "You can all open your eyes now." I smiled at them.

I laughed at JJ as she shook her head with a smile and I looked down the hall when I heard Ainsley's footsteps. I moved out of her way as she ran into the living room with her arms full of books. She ran straight to Morgan, jumping up to his lap with them. I smiled to myself and made my way to my room, Sarah catching up and assisting me to lie down and she spread the blankets over me.

* * *

I hadn't been able to fall asleep tonight with the pains. I knew they were contractions, but they weren't regular, intense and very frequent until now. It was about three in the morning. I got my phone from the nightstand and rang the hospital to see if I should go in or not.

The conversation took longer than it should have, considering I had to stop talking while the contractions passed painfully. They told me to come in immediately and I pulled myself up, letting out a quiet cry as pain spread through me every time I moved. I shouldn't have, but I got changed into something more respectable and walked down the hall, my phone in my hand. I knocked on Sarah's door, making sure I wouldn't walk in on her and Reid. They were asleep when I got in there and I tried to keep the small cries of pain in as I shook her awake.

She looked up at me, "Hey, are you okay?" She whispered to not wake Reid but I couldn't speak through the agony. I shook my head and pointed to my stomach. "Are you in labour?" She sat up quickly.

I nodded and she jumped up, knocking Reid awake as she did, "Spencer, she's in labour. Take her to the car and I'll get Ainsley."

Reid got up quickly and he assisted me out of the apartment, grabbing my keys as we went. He would have taken Sarah's but mine had both the baby seats in it. He took me downstairs and to the car, putting me in the passenger seat. When I opened my eyes from where they were clenched shut, Sarah was walking quickly, carrying Ainsley and several blankets, the hospital bag over her shoulder. Reid drove and Sarah got her phone out, calling Morgan first. He didn't pick up on the first two tries.

"Try mine," I said while trying to keep my breathing steady as I passed my phone to her in the back, "Sometimes his phone is on silent and only the team's numbers or his family's numbers get through."

"You'd think he'd put my number on that list, considering I'm living with his pregnant girlfriend." She said as she dialled his number on my phone.

"We're not dating. Oh god!" I cried and put my hands over my bump. Ainsley was asleep in the back, thankfully.

"Morgan, it's Sarah. She's in labour; we're driving to the hospital now. Put me on that list of numbers that still ring when your phone is on silent, for gods sakes." She was silent for a few seconds, "Em, he's going to meet us there." She said to me, "Alright, see you there." She hung up on him and looked at me, "Do I call the others?"

"Yes," Reid said, stopping at a red light, "Oh, come on."

"JJ first." I choked out.

"Okay, JJ. On it."

I groaned and hit the visor in front of Reid down. I clicked the small button and the lights flashed and the siren rang. Cars slowed and pulled to the side and Reid drove through quickly.

"Is this legal?" Sarah asked.

"Not really." I breathed as another contraction occurred. It tried hard to hold the cries in as I winced.


	19. Chapter 19

**Prentiss**

Our baby was born happy and healthy after just 7 hours of labour. She was born at 10:04 on September 6th at 7 pounds 2 ounces. I was instructed to breastfeed within the first hour after delivery and I did as the midwife told me, despite having done this before. It felt different, maybe because Morgan was with me at every stop.

"Married?" A second midwife asked us as she came in to check if we needed any help with anything.

"No, just friends who made a mistake…" I said quietly. The midwives checked on me and her before giving the three of us some time alone. I was beyond exhausted and Morgan knew that.

"You can go to sleep." He whispered, brushing my hair behind my ear. He had tied it up for me during the birth and the parts around my ears were falling out.

"Not yet," I shook my head, "I want to be awake when Ainsley sees her and the team meets her."

"We can delay all of that until you're rested." He assured.

"No," I shook my head again, "I'll be okay. Did you call your mother?"

"Yeah, she's coming down in a few days. She's giving us a while to settle and get out of the hospital first. My family doesn't really like hospitals."

"I know how they feel," I said quietly, looking down at my daughter, "So, thought of a name?"

"I chose her middle name."

"We agreed on her middle name, and you still get a say in her first name."

"Well nothing goes with Penelope." He said quietly as we looked at her. We sat and thought about names for a while.

"Priya?" I looked at him.

His eyes met mine, "That's not bad. Priya Penelope."

"Morgan," I completed, "Priya Penelope Morgan."

He smiled, "I like it."

I smiled wide and looked down at her, "Priya. She looks like Ainsley did when she was a newborn. My features, your eyes." I watched as her eyes drooped slightly. She was getting very tired. I looked at Morgan, "Bring Ainsley in?"

He grinned and nodded, standing and walking out. I assumed he'd be going to the waiting room to get her. Would he tell them all her name there or would he wait? I guess I didn't really mind but I would prefer to see their reactions, whether they liked it or not.

Morgan's phone buzzed at my side and I lifted it up, careful not to shift Priya as I did. It was a message from JJ so I lifted his phone more and unlocked it. I went into their messages and saw a photo of me holding Priya, just after delivery. He had taken a photo and sent it to her. I had a small smile on my face and I didn't look as horrible as a lot of women do after childbirth. I went out of those messages and saw that he sent it to all members of the team, Sarah, his mother and his sisters.

I shook my head and put the phone back where it was originally. He walked in not long after with Ainsley holding his hand. "Mummy!" She said excitedly.

"Hey baby." I smiled at her as she ran up to me. She stood on her toes at the side of the hospital bed and looked at her little sister with curiosity in her eyes, her lips forming a small 'O'. I smiled at Morgan and he lifted her onto the bed but was sure to make sure it wouldn't bother me or the baby.

"Do you want to hold her?" I asked Ainsley quietly. She looked at me with fear in her eyes. "It's okay, honey." I nodded. She nodded and sat cross legged, facing me. I moved slowly and Morgan held her arms how they should go and I lay Priya in them. "Keep two hands under her and be very careful, okay?" I kept one hand near her head in case Ainsley dropped her.

I looked at Morgan briefly, "You photographed me."

He smiled, "You looked through my phone?"

"JJ texted you so I checked it. I looked disgusting."

"No, you look like you just went 7 hours of exhaustion while pushing a human being out of body. You'll appreciate the photo later." He winked. I shook my head with a small smile and looked at my daughters again.

"What's her name?" Ainsley asked me.

"Priya Penelope Morgan."

* * *

The team had decided not to come in yet. They left Priya and I both to sleep and I woke once after three hours to feed her again before being left to sleep again. I woke up in the early evening and Morgan was still at my side, a coffee in one hand and his phone in his other. Priya was still asleep and he looked up when he heard my breathing shift slightly and I dropped my head to the side to look at him, "You didn't have to stay."

"Of course I stayed. I'm stay _ing_ until you're out of here and then I'm crashing on your couch until I'm sure everything is completely okay."

I smiled at him, "Thank you."

He took a breath and set his phone and coffee down, "Emily—"

"No," I cut him off, "Don't."

"You haven't given me five minutes to talk to you in the last four months. I know you heard JJ and I in the break room in Colorado and I know you hid your knowledge for a while before Garcia slipped, so in case you've forgotten, I admitted, not only to JJ but to myself to, that I love you." I closed my eyes as he continued. His words were heartfelt and intimate. He spoke softly and slowly and he stopped frequently in case I wanted to say something.

After what seemed like a long time, he stopped too soon. I wanted him to keep speaking, to keep telling me all the things that made him fall in love with me and the things he loved about me now. The things that he fell in love with again and again each day, the things that he had noticed since he fell in love. This is what I had wanted to hear 10 months ago, and now that I was, it was a whole new level of desired.

"Derek, sometimes love isn't enough," I whispered, "I mean, I do, I love you, but it isn't that easy. We can't just take a chance and hope for the best. We can't just fuck around and see where it takes us. We have our jobs and our team to consider, let alone the rules of the job, and I have two children."

"I have two children as well." He tilted his head to the side.

"But do you really think that you're ready to be a full time father? You have to sacrifice almost everything, Derek. Your time alone when it's quiet, nights out with friends, dinners or parties, occasions with the team, weddings, the list goes on, but the biggest thing you need to give them is your heart; all of it, unconditional love. It's hard, I'm not going to lie to you or downplay it in the hopes that you'll still want it, but it is so damn hard. You don't sleep; you don't have time to eat or shower or even to sit down for a few minutes. You're exhausted all the time and the house is always a complete mess because you don't have time to clean it and when the child grows up a bit and you do, it just gets trashed again within the next 5 minutes. You run low on money because it all goes to the child."

"Emily, did you ever think that it was _that_ bad because you were alone? With the two of us getting paid and not blowing the money on alcohol, drugs and gambling, we wouldn't run as low as you did the first time around. You'd get more time alone if I looked over the baby for a while, you'll have time to sleep, even just for a little while and you'll have time to eat and shower and sit down. There would be two of us capable of cleaning, one to take the baby, one to clean. The sacrifices are ones that I am definitely willing to make and I've got nowhere else to put my love except for the team, you, Ainsley and Priya," He brushed his fingers over my cheek to wipe the tears on them, "Em, you're looking at all of this like you're alone. You were alone with Ainsley but not this time around. You have me; you have Sarah and Reid, JJ and Will, Hotch, Garcia and Rossi. We're all here to assist you in anything you need."

I lifted my hand and took his, pulling it away from my face and resting it on the side of the bed, my fingers playing with his mindlessly, "I don't want you to give up your life if you have other things you need to accomplish first. Everything changes, Morgan."

"I have a career. The only other things I wanted in my life were kids, to which I have now, and love."

"Love isn't just a feeling, Morgan. It's a choice, too. You can love two people and choose one while you still love the other. Are you sure that there isn't someone else out there that you want more than you want me?"

"It isn't possible for me to want anyone else more." He said quietly, leaning forwards. His lips were just inches from mine and they moved closer.

"Wait." I put my finger over his lips, just centimetres from mine now. He let out a small aggravated sigh and looked to the side, moving away from me again. I caught him before he got far and turned him back to look at me, his lips dangerously close to mine. "Are you sure you want this? Because once you place that kiss on my lips, that's it; you can't change your mind." My lips brushed on his as I spoke.

I'll admit that I was being slightly selfish. Although I looked horrible, my hair a mess and my face fresh of makeup, I was trying to make it harder for him to resist. I _wanted_ him to kiss me and not have the chance to leave. I _wanted_ him to want me forever. I _wanted_ him to choose me and love me more than anyone else, apart from our daughters obviously. I _wanted_ him.

He replied by pressing his lips to mine gently and I felt my whole body relax. I was just going to leave it at that, accept that as his answer and stop where we were for now, but something inside of me couldn't stop. I returned his kiss and it continued for a few minutes, although it stayed controlled.

We stopped as I heard the midwife clear her throat awkwardly and my lips left his, my head falling to his shoulder opposite the midwife for a second, catching my breath and waiting for the red flush of embarrassment disappear from my cheeks. He laughed to himself quietly, "What a time for the team to come in." He said quietly.

"What?" I flicked my head up quickly and looked forwards. The seven people standing by the wall were all smiling. Ainsley walked up to Morgan's side and he lifted her up. JJ had her hands, palms together, in front of her mouth and tears in her eyes. Garcia and Sarah both had surprised, open-mouthed grins.

I looked down and closed my eyes, clearing my throat. It felt awkward, having them all see that.

"Wow…" Garcia spoke first, "What a show."

"My god, you gave birth this morning and you still look like you. Like, beautiful and not dying. I hate you for that." JJ said.

"You still looked beautiful and alive." Will said.

"To _you_ because you love me. Not to anyone else."

I listened to them talk and Reid compliment JJ as the midwife passed me a waking Priya and moved my shirt for me. She latched on well, no problems at all. When she woke enough, she found the food source I supplied almost instantly and I looked back up. JJ, Garcia and Sarah were smiling at me. Hotch and Rossi were both looking down, Will was looking at JJ and Reid was looking up and around to avoid looking at me.

Morgan laughed, "You can't actually see her boob, guys. The kid is pretty latched on there." They looked back after the confirmation.

"What's she doing?" Ainsley asked me, sitting in Morgan's lap on her knees and leaning on the railing on the bed, watching over her sister lovingly.

"She's eating." I said to her.

"She's yours too?" The midwife asked me. I smiled at her and nodded, "I thought that, she does look very similar to the two of you." She motioned to Morgan and I, "How old?"

I didn't mind her curiosity. Ainsley knew she was interested in her and that put a smile on her face, receiving attention, and the midwife was nice enough. "She turned 5 in July."

She nodded with a smile and looked at the others, "Do any of you have children?"

"We have a son," JJ motioned to Will and herself, "And he has a son." She motioned to Hotch.

The midwife nodded politely before looking back at me, "Have we decided on a name?"

I hesitated and looked at Morgan, "Have we?"

"Well do you like the one we talked about?" He asked. A small smile spread on my face and that was enough to answer him, "Then yes, we have decided on a name."

"Okay, well you can tell them."

"Why me?"

"Because I told them Ainsley's name."

"No, Ainsley told them Ainsley's name."

"Oh look, I'm busy." I looked down at my daughter as she drank from my breast.

"Can one of you just tell us, please?" Garcia asked impatiently.

Morgan glanced at me one more time before his eyes moved to our daughter and then to our team, "Priya Penelope."

"Morgan." I completed, rolling my eyes. He wouldn't say the last name because he didn't know if I had changed my mind or not despite the multiple times I assured him that it was Morgan.

"Sorry…Priya Penelope Morgan." He said it with his name this time. I smiled and nodded when he looked at me.


	20. Chapter 20

**Prentiss**

4 days passed and we were allowed to take Priya home. I buckled her into the new baby seat Morgan had bought for my car and he helped Ainsley. "Hey!" I heard JJ call to me. I turned and saw her standing by Will's car. "Call when you want company."

I smiled and nodded. The whole team had their cars parked near mine unintentionally.

"Good luck with your sleep and food intake!" Garcia called to us with a smirk. She was riding with Hotch. Rossi had his own car and Reid had brought his this morning so he and Sarah were going in his.

"Thanks!" I laughed. I closed the back car door where Priya was as Morgan started the car. I stepped into the passenger seat and looked over my shoulder at Ainsley. "Are you excited?" I asked her.

She nodded with a big smile. She loved Priya so much already; it was so adorable to see them together. "Mummy? Why were you and daddy kissing?" She asked me after a moments silence passed.

I looked at Morgan and he glanced at me, "Are we going to tell her or do we wait?" He asked.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"I guess we tell her." He shrugged his shoulders. I nodded and looked back at her over my shoulder.

"JJ said people only kiss when they love each other."

I cleared my throat quietly, "Do you remember a while ago when I told you that not everything ends like fairy tales?" She nodded, "And I said that daddy and I would never be together like JJ and Will or Reid and Sarah?" She nodded again, "Well I was wrong."

She looked at me with confused eyes, "What?"

"Daddy and I are together."

Her eyes lit up, "Like JJ and Will?"

"Yeah." I nodded with a smile. She looked happy now. She had a smile across her lips and she looked out the window, kicking her feet. I looked at Morgan and he was watching her through the rear-view mirror with his own smile. I sat and looked at his profile as he drove, studying everything I loved about it, which was all of it.

"Why are you staring at me?" He asked me quietly after a while.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For staying." I said quietly as I leant over and kissed his cheek.

* * *

I lay down on the bed, my head in my pillow. It had been a rough first night and every time Priya woke, so did Ainsley and she would cry because she was tired and it was just insane. I heard Morgan's footsteps walk in and felt his weight drop beside me. His hand caressed my hair and I turned my head to the side to look at him. He kissed behind my ear and looked at my eyes. I smiled, "Appreciate this time to sleep." I said quietly.

He smiled and threw the blanket over me. I closed my eyes and my hand found his. I threaded my fingers through his and dropped them to the bed. We lay in silence for a while and I had almost fallen asleep before I heard her cries again. I groaned and removed my hand from his. He sighed and sat up. Sarah and Reid had stayed at his place last night and picked Ainsley up this morning to take her out.

"I'm going to express milk so that throughout the night, _I_ don't have to get up every time to feed her; you can feed her from a bottle."

"No, I can't do that."

"Why not?" I asked as I walked out towards our crying child.

"She's not even hungry, she just ate. But a bottle is different to a boob."

"Oh, you would know." I teased as I walked into Sarah's room where she told me I could put Priya for the first night or two. I'd move her to my room soon; we just needed some sleep and a space to talk last night without disturbing her. I would have put her with Ainsley, but I didn't want Ainsley to have to wake every time Priya did, although she did anyway.

He laughed at me and stood in the doorway, watching as I lifted Priya from her bassinet and hushed her. I knew she wasn't hungry so I checked her diaper. "I think she was just lonely." I said quietly as she calmed in my arms. It didn't seem like anything was wrong. She started to stir so I sung to her. It always worked with Ainsley and it worked now. I lay her down while I sung softly and stood over her, tracing my fingers down her arms softly in a soothing motion until her eyes fell closed. I kept singing to her for a short while longer until I knew she was asleep and I stopped. I walked back to Morgan and closed the door over, leaving it ajar.

"You just sung in front of me," He smirked as we sat down in the living room, "You used to hate singing in front of people."

"I still do," I nodded, "I was tempted to ask you to leave."

"I don't know why; you have an amazing voice."

I shook my head and looked into his eyes with a small smile.

"What are you thinking about?" He looked back at me.

"Do you ever wonder where we'd be if I never got pregnant? If we didn't have Ainsley and we didn't have Priya, would I have lived the same way I did in London? Would I have ever come back? What if I never left? It would all be totally different."

"Yeah, it would," He agreed quietly, "But as a result of how it all turned out, we have two beautiful daughters and I am completely in love with you." His voice got quieter. He bowed his head and placed a soft kiss on my lips. I kissed him back a few times.

I pulled back momentarily, "I like how things turned out," I whispered. Another kiss, "I love you."

"Back at you." He breathed between kisses. His hands found my hips and he guided me back a bit before lying me back on the couch and kissing me from above. "I hate that you just gave birth." He said quietly after a few more minutes.

"Me too." I laughed.

* * *

Most mothers would want some time alone with just their partner and child or children, but I guess I wasn't like most mothers. When I had Ainsley, I didn't have anyone to visit me so I didn't notice how lonely I was but I did this time. The team had taken this week off because of my labour and they needed a break from the job. It was Friday now, only the third day of being home from hospital and even though Morgan was here and Sarah and Reid came by a few times, I still felt lonely. I missed my team as a whole.

Morgan's mother and sisters had arrived yesterday evening and Ainsley was so excited to see them. They met both her and Priya and I don't think they held anything against me for hiding it from Morgan and them. I asked him later that night and he assured me that he talked to them and they understood my reasoning. Personally, now that I thought about it, "I was scared" was not a very good reason for not telling him that someone of his own bloodline existed but it was the only reason I had. An excuse, really.

"Hey, can I invite the team over?" I asked Morgan as he walked into my room after his shower. A towel was wrapped around his bottom half and his torso was still glistening from the water droplets. It was extremely attractive and I had to fight myself to look at his face instead of his body.

"Don't you want a little time alone with Priya first?" He asked.

I gave him a guilty look, "I miss them."

He smiled, "You can if you want. It doesn't bother me."

"Okay, thanks." I lifted my phone and started texting. I was lying on the bed as he got changed and it was hard for me to keep my eyes and concentration on the text and not him. He smirked at me once he was changed and walked over as I bit my lip. He kissed me teasingly.

"Don't you just wish?" He winked.

"Don't be mean." I pouted.

He laughed and kissed me once more as he slid his hand down from the side of my face to my thigh. I hit him, "Stop teasing me!" He laughed again. I laughed with him for a short while before we calmed down.

"So what am I supposed to tell people?"

"What?"

"About us," He clarified, "I mean, mum, Sarah and Desiree asked me last night if we were dating or not. I didn't really know what to tell them."

"You can tell your family and whoever else what you _want_ to tell them." I shrugged my shoulders.

"So…I can say that we're dating?"

I smiled, "Yeah. Was that not clear to you before?"

"Well I didn't know what you were thinking or where you were standing at the moment."

"Well yes Morgan, you can tell people we're dating." I nodded.

"Okay cool." He smiled and kissed me again, this time it was quick and not mischievous. I sat up as I heard Priya wake and start to cry. A second later, I heard Desiree and Sarah, Morgan's Sarah, not my Sarah, groan at the sound that must have woken them.

I got up quickly and walked to the other side of my room where she screamed from. I lifted her up and hushed her, calming her down. It worked quicker when I started to sing and Morgan smiled as he listened before walking out of the room momentarily. I heard him apologise to his sisters and mother and he came back with a hand towel. "Thanks." I took it from him and put it over my shoulder before unclipping the nursing bra and waiting for her to latch on.

My phone sounded and he checked it for me, "The team wants to know what time to be here."

"You decide. I don't know when your mum and sisters will be up and wanting to communicate."

He texted on my phone before putting it back down, "It's going to get confusing with two Sarah's, don't you think?"

"Yes, I do. We have Sarah and we have Reid's Sarah. There you go."

"You call Sarah "Sar" sometimes, right? My Sarah hates that, so we can call one Sarah and one Sar?" He suggested.

I laughed to myself, "" _My Sarah_ ", that's so cute."

"Shut up." He smiled and looked down.

* * *

The day with the team and Morgan's family went quickly and we resorted to having dinner here too and it turned into a games night. We played board games and laughed a lot. I was having a great night and I hadn't felt this good in so long. I wasn't even drinking, considering I was breastfeeding.

We were playing Monopoly in teams. Morgan and his mother and sisters on one team, JJ, Will and I on another, Hotch, Garcia and Rossi on another and Reid and Sarah on their own. Ainsley was staying up late and sitting by Reid, colouring in and humming to herself lightly. It was a joyful sound for me. She hummed when she was happy and she was humming the song I always sang to her. I was smiling at her across the table as the others laughed and Garcia and Morgan argued. Her eyes were heavy but she fought to stay awake.

I stood up and JJ smiled at me as I did. I walked around the table and crouched to her, "Hey princess, come on, bedtime." She dropped her pencil as her eyes drooped again and I stood up, lifting her with me. "I'll be back." I said to JJ as I walked past her and she looked at me again.

I lay Ainsley down in her bed and pulled her blankets over her, tucking her in. I brushed her hair behind her ear, out of her face and kissed her forehead, "Sweet dreams my little princess." I whispered.

"I love you mummy."

I smiled, "I love you too. Get some sleep." I stood and walked back out, closing the door shut behind me. I closed the door to the hallway over but left it ajar in case Priya woke up. I returned to JJ's side just in time for our turn. We had to discuss what we were going to do so we did this for a few seconds before JJ groaned.

"Thank the lord I didn't study business." She said, leaning back onto her hands and looking up as Will and I whispered from either side of her.

"But this would help Hotch, Rossi and Garcia." I said quietly to him.

"Do it!" Garcia encouraged.

"But if we don't do it then they'll trade with Reid and Sarah and they'll win." Will countered.

"Alright, buy it then." He was probably right, and I knew Garcia, Hotch and Rossi and Morgan and his family were both working with us to stop Reid from winning yet _another_ game.

"So has your mum come to see Priya yet? Has she even seen Ainsley?" JJ asked me once our turn was over. They all looked at me and waited for an answer. I guess they all wanted to ask the same question.

"She has met Ainsley on several occasions," I nodded, "She wasn't exactly thrilled that I had a child but she was actually kind of nice to her. She was better with her than she was with me."

"And is she coming to see Pre?" Sarah asked that again, noting how I had avoided that part.

"Well, the ambassador was supposed to come yesterday, but she called me and said she couldn't make it until next week. She called me again this morning and said she can't make next week, she'll be here the next. I'm expecting a weekly call to postpone."

The game was longer than it should have been. Reid and Sarah won, obviously. We sat around and talked afterwards for a while before the team decided it was time to go home. It was nights like these that really made my life so enjoyable; that and my children.


	21. Chapter 21

6 MONTHS LATER:

 **Prentiss**

I walked into the new house with Morgan at my side, Ainsley at his and Priya on my hip. It wasn't large, but it wasn't small. It was a comfortable size; two storey with four bedrooms and an ensuite to the master bedroom. I looked around at the open foyer in front of us, the living room through the archway to our right and the kitchen and dining through the archway to our left. The staircase was wide and in front of us. Morgan had bought it and worked hard to build it up a few years ago so he spend the last few months fixing it up again

"Welcome home," He smiled and kissed my cheek. He looked down at Ainsley, "Go pick a room upstairs; just not the biggest one."

"Why not the big one?" She asked him.

"Because that one goes to mummy."

"And you." Ainsley said as she ran off upstairs to choose her room. It was dark already. We had finished work and picked the girls up from the bar where Sarah was working tonight and we decided to have a drink with Reid and her on her break and we ended up having dinner there. Priya started drinking formula recently and early for her age, but on the plus side, I could drink again. I was officially able to drink two weeks ago when she was successfully weaned off the breast milk but then we had a case and we had to pack and I only had a beer or two every night with Morgan.

Priya was falling asleep in my arms already and Morgan noticed now, "I'll go get her crib and set it back up." We had to dissemble it to bring it here. He left the house and walked down the path and through the gate. I looked around the room again as I bounced her slightly. This house was perfect. It was Morgan's dream family home if he were ever to have children, hence why he never sold it and I loved it so much.

I lay the blanket hanging over my arm across the floor in the living room and put Priya down onto it. I gave her a toy and smiled at Ainsley as she came back downstairs, "I picked one." She was so excited about this.

I kissed her cheek, "Can you please do me a favour?" She nodded in reply. "Can you please sit here with Priya so I can help daddy? You have to make sure she doesn't get into trouble." There was nothing for her to get into, but I didn't feel comfortable with her being completely alone or unsupervised. Ainsley learnt a long while ago that Priya couldn't lay on her stomach for long without an adult watching over her, so she knew to either turn her over or come and find me or Morgan if it happened.

Ainsley sat down beside her sister and pulled her onto her lap. I smiled to myself and kissed her hair before walking outside to help Morgan. I took the three lighter slat sides of the crib from Morgan and he took the heavier back and base and followed me inside.

"Ainsley, which room did you pick?" Morgan asked her, kicking the door closed gently behind him. She stood up and walked up the staircase. I followed her and she showed us the room she chose. There was another room closer to ours so I decided we'd put Priya in there. Ainsley went back downstairs to her sister and I helped Morgan set this up, I had the bag of screws and the screwdriver and whatever he needed to assemble it. He knew I wouldn't really be much help.

I gave up quickly and went back downstairs. I leant against the archway with a smile and observed Ainsley and Priya as Priya smiled and Ainsley played peek-a-boo with her; a game Garcia had played and Ainsley had adopted. I heard a knock on the door and looked at my watch. It was nine pm already, so I suspected a team member. I walked through the empty foyer, my boots clicking on the medium brown hardwood floors that were throughout the house with cream carpet in the bedrooms. I opened the door and saw my team on the other side, Sarah and Will included. I smiled and JJ and Garcia lifted beer, Rossi and Hotch lifted scotch and wine. I smiled and stepped to the side, motioning for them to come in.

"So why were we never told that you were house hunting?" Garcia asked as they came inside.

"Uh…we weren't. Morgan built this." I said as I walked into the soon to be living room and they followed.

"I didn't build it; I bought it and then restored it," He said, walking into the room, "Hey guys." He smiled and I knew that he wasn't expecting them either.

"You kind of built it." I nodded. I looked at Ainsley and then to Priya and then to Morgan. I doubted he got the crib set up that quickly and we still had Ainsley's bed to do but I didn't want to be rude to our team.

"Oh, we're not here to just drink with you, by the way. Although it does sound rather enjoyable..." JJ said, "We sent Jack and Henry to friends' houses and we came to help you set stuff up and whatever you need done."

"You don't have to." Morgan said politely.

I looked at him, "Morgan, shh." I smirked and nodded.

"Oh, you just want the alcohol."

"I do, but I am also never touching a hammer or a screwdriver again so you might need the help."

"It was not that bad." He rolled his eyes.

"Seriously? I have a Band-Aid around the hole that I somehow screwed into my finger while dissembling her crib," I pointed to Priya, "And when I moved into that apartment, I almost nailed my own hand to the wall."

"I remember that," Sarah laughed to herself quietly, "It was hilarious."

"I don't think I've ever seen your hair like that. So…unprofessional." Rossi said. My hair was up in a very messy bun that still, somehow, looked even slightly styled.

I smiled to myself and looked away, "I always wear it like this when I'm at home and not working…"

"It's weird, huh?" Hotch asked Rossi quietly. He nodded in agreement.

"Okay…let's stop judging my hairstyle." Morgan threw a screw at me and it fell to the ground. I looked at him in confusion, "…Okay."

"Screw you." He smirked. I tried to keep my laugh back at the pun but the team laughed and mine broke through.

* * *

The team had stayed for several hours, helping set up the beds and bring the large furniture in from the moving truck that Morgan had hired. Eventually, once the couches were in the living room, not set to where they would be yet because we didn't know how we wanted it all laid out, we had stopped setting things up and sat down to drink and talk and laugh. The girls had been asleep upstairs for an hour or two before we took the break that became the end of our work night. It was Saturday morning now and I woke up late. We had boxes upon boxes and we still had furniture to bring inside and Morgan had left me asleep until ten o'clock. I pulled myself up and got changed into a loose shirt and a pair of skinny casual leggings. I let my hair out from the fallen, knotted bun and ran my hairbrush through it before tying it back up into the same messy bun as I always wore at home.

I heard the front door open and I looked around my almost empty room again before leaving it, intending on finding my boyfriend unpacking boxes or something. I walked down the staircase and was slightly startled to see Sarah run across the foyer from the living room to the kitchen and dining, Ainsley running in front of her and laughing hysterically.

I smiled to myself and walked into the living room where the team sat with Morgan, Priya in his arms. "Good morning." He smiled at me.

"Why would you let me sleep that long?"

"Because you were exhausted and haven't slept properly in a week and it's Saturday…"

"Yes, but see, we just moved into a new house and we have a million things to do before the weekend is over. I don't have time to sleep that long, I need time to unpack things."

"Oh look, coffee." Will offered a cup to me. It was still hot, just bought. It would have been him walking through the door minutes ago.

"Thanks." I smiled and sipped it.

"Rossi, Hotch, she's wearing her hair like that again," JJ pointed out to them, "Does it still fascinate you?"

"It's just different." Hotch shook his head and drank his coffee. I turned and walked to the front door, greeting Sarah and kissing Ainsley's hair as they walked back through the foyer. I made my way outside and to the truck and put my coffee on a box before walking inside with it and putting it down in the living room.

"You don't have to start unpacking _straight_ away," Morgan said to me, "You don't even have a shelf to put half of that stuff yet anyway."

"Don't tell me how to live my life." I smirked at him.

I opened the box and looked into it and saw another box sitting on top. My box of the past. My smile faded and Morgan took the box out quickly, moving it to the other side of him to block my view of it and looked back at me. "Forget about it."

I smiled weakly and looked back into the box, quickly distracting myself from the previous item in it.

"So, we're going to help out today, too." JJ said to me.

"You don't have to if you have better things to do." I said to them.

"I don't have a life outside of you guys on the weekends." Garcia said.

"Honestly, me either," Rossi said, "And I just don't feel like smoking cigars and reading by myself today."

"Jack's out so I only have paperwork." Hotch said.

"I only have my own housework that I'm avoiding." JJ said. Will nodded in agreement, not having anything other than that to do as well, I assumed.

I looked at Sarah and Reid when neither of them said anything. "You two can leave if you want." I offered to them, thinking they had something to do other than this.

Sarah shook her head but didn't speak and Reid stayed silent.

"Okay guys, what's going on?" I asked them.

"Nothing." Reid shook his head and looked at me. His eyes looked like they felt threatened by my question and that was how I knew that he was lying.

"We're fighting." Sarah said in a tired voice.

"Sarah! They don't need to know everything." Reid said to her in a tone that I rarely heard him use.

"They're profilers; I think they'd figure it out anyway." She rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't mean you have to tell them." He said irritably.

* * *

Reid was in the living room with Ainsley and Priya and the rest of us were in the kitchen. JJ and I were unpacking the most, the others were kind of just handing us things and talking, taking a break.

"So what are you fighting about?" I asked Sarah. I kept my voice low enough that Reid wouldn't overhear.

"I don't even know anymore," She shook her head and sighed, "Something stupid and unnecessary."

"So _Spence_ started the fight?" JJ asked with surprise, "That's…unusual of him."

"Well what was happening when it started?" I asked her, putting a cup away in one of the cupboards. I loved the new kitchen that I couldn't cook in. I would, however, enjoy watching Morgan cook in it.

"Okay, so I know why we're fighting," She admitted, "But don't worry about it."

"Is it sexual?" Garcia asked her.

"No." Sarah shook her head.

"Hey, was he like…awkward when you slept together for the first time?" JJ asked her.

"I feel like he would have been." Morgan nodded.

"No, he wasn't awkward at all," She shook her head, "I mean, it wasn't his first time."

"I still refuse to believe that." JJ shook her head and Will laughed at her.

"Oh yeah, remember when we had my welcome back "party". "Who's not a virgin?", "…Hotch"." I teased and laughed with the team.

"Is…is Jack…not mine?" Hotch smirked.

We all laughed again. "Even if Jack was out of your thoughts at the time, I mean, he was married for so long." Garcia said.

"Maybe it was one of those marriages with no sex." She shrugged her shoulders as she tried to defend herself.

"And what kind of marriage is that?" Rossi asked, smirking too.

She hesitated so I replied for her, "A sad one." Laughter again.

"So when are you going to propose?" Sarah smirked at Morgan.

"Yeah." Garcia and JJ said at the same time, smirking at him too.

"5 years." He said.

"What? Why wait that long?" JJ asked, "What made you think to wait 5 years?"

"Nothing, that was just the first number I thought of," He shrugged his shoulders, "But I don't have an answer to your question, Sarah."

"You know what they say; third times a charm." Will smirked, referring to the two previous proposals I had received from Mark and Doyle.

"Yeah, not every time." Rossi shook his head. We all laughed again.


	22. Chapter 22

**Prentiss**

A few weeks past and the house was completely set up and liveable. Ainsley was enjoying kindergarten so far and Priya had started teething two weeks ago, so we had a few sleepless nights. She had begun crawling early last week and now she never sat still.

The last two cases we had were successful for the most part, Sarah and Reid had worked out whatever they were fighting about and were back to their disturbing, loving ways that the whole team never seemed fully comfortable seeing. It was probably just because it was Reid and they hadn't seen him in any kind of romance since Maeve. I had heard all about that and I, as well as the team, thought that would be the end of Doctor Spencer Reid's love life.

Everything just seemed perfect at the moment with the team and our lives, both as a group and individually. It didn't look like it could get much better.

I came home from the relaxing Friday night I had spent with JJ and Garcia. There was a place further into town that was open late for massages, manicures and hair treatments and JJ thought we needed a break so the three of us enjoyed the evening there with a bottle of wine. When I got home, the house was dark and quiet except for the soft classical music playing from the kitchen. I couldn't hear crying from Priya or talking or laughing from Ainsley. I hung my coat and put my bag down on the table by the door. I went towards the music and I noticed the candles and the roses on the side of the dining table. I smiled to myself and walked into the room. Morgan had his back to me in the kitchen, cooking a late dinner.

I walked over to him silently and kissed his cheek quickly. He startled slightly but he calmed almost immediately. "Hey," He smiled, "Did you have a good time at the spa thing?"

"I did." I nodded and sat on the counter top that wasn't being used. I noticed two empty glasses and a chilled bottle of wine beside them across from me on the counter island. I held my hand out and showed him the acrylic nails I had done, painted matte black.

"Nice." He nodded as he took my hand and looked at them. He kissed the top of my hand and I smiled to myself as he let it go. "Your hair looks nice too."

"Thank you. It really needed a cut."

"Did Garcia dye her hair again?"

"No, and thank god she didn't because her hair must be dead by now."

"I think she uses a special wash thing. I don't know; she told me about it once but I was a bit distracted."

I nodded, "So, did you go out with the guys tonight?"

"Nah," He shook his head, "I was going to suggest it but I was too tired after today so I decided not to."

"And where are our children?"

"With Sarah and Reid tonight." He smiled as he looked at the pasta he was making.

"…Why?"

He looked at me for a few seconds before motioning to the decorated dining table, "Because we haven't really had a night to ourselves in a while and I wanted to do something nice for you, but if you want me to go and get them because you don't want—"

"No, Morgan, I didn't mean I don't appreciate the candles and the roses and the cooking, I was just curious. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to offend you." I panicked.

He smirked and laughed, "Relax, I was just messing with you."

"Oh, you're mean." I shook my head. He laughed again and placed a quick kiss on my lips. "So what is this?"

"Chicken pasta."

"It doesn't have a fancy Italian name?" He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, how romantic." I teased him.

"It's about ready if you want to sit." He motioned for me to go to the table.

"I'll go wash my hands first," I jumped down to the floor and kissed his cheek, "Thanks for this."

* * *

I walked back into the dining room as he poured the wine into the glasses placed beside our plates. I had gotten changed out of my casual spa clothes and into something a little more flattering. My hair was out and causally over my shoulders and he smiled at me, motioning for me to sit down. I returned the smile and sat. He sat across from me and lifted his glass of wine. I did the same and we clinked out glasses together. I sipped it and found that it was my favourite wine. We didn't have any in the house at the moment so he must have gone out to buy some. It tasted old too.

"It's my favourite," I smiled at him, "And it's old. Where'd you get it?"

"Rossi." He smirked.

"You bought wine off Rossi?"

"No, he gave it to me."

"Why?"

"…Uh…because he was a rack short and I was there so he gave me your favourite one and put the new one in its place."

"That sounds like a load of shit." I laughed.

"Okay, I bought it," He rolled his eyes, "Geez…just appreciate it." He mumbled jokingly.

The pasta was amazing, and just when I thought he couldn't have made a better night, he brought out the dessert. He made us mini white chocolate cheesecakes, topped with raspberries and blueberries and chocolate syrup over the top.

"Derek, what inspired you to be so perfect tonight?" I asked with a smile as he put a plate in front of me and refilled our wine glasses before sitting back down.

"What inspired me? You, because you're special and you do so much and I love you immensely."

I smiled and looked down, flushing a faint red. It was amazing that he was still capable of making me feel like this. The butterflies in my stomach wouldn't stop, the red in my cheeks embarrassed me and I felt like I was falling in love with him all over again. "I love you too. Thank you so much for all of this."

"You know what I've noticed lately?"

"What?"

"Your accent is almost gone. You just sound like any other American most of the time but occasionally in a few sentences or words, you sound British again and it's really adorable."

"Adorable? My accent is adorable?" I smirked.

"Yes." He laughed and took a bite of his cheesecake. I shook my head and laughed with him. I tried the cheesecake and I couldn't believe that he had made it on his own. It was really good and it went well with the wine.

Eventually, we finished eating and I went to get up but Morgan took my hand across the table, "Wait." I turned my attention back to him and waited for him to continue with whatever he wanted to say. "Emily, you know how much you mean to me, right?"

"I'm going to say I do even if I don't."

"Well you pretty much mean everything to me, the world. I love you more than you could ever imagine and I just couldn't think of spending my life with anyone else." He shook his head and he dropped one hand out of my view past the table. What was happening right now? Was this the question I had been waiting eagerly for? "Every time I look into your eyes, I just fall in love with you again and again. You are my best friend, my shoulder to lean on, the one person I can count on for anything. You are the love of my life, my princess, and while I know you deserve the world, I can't give you that, so I'm offering you _my_ world. Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, will you do me the honour of becoming my Queen?" He asked the question as he laid an open velvet coated box in my hand. I had tears streaming down my cheeks, my throat felt like it closed up and I felt my eyes light up as I looked into his.

"Derek…" I whispered quietly. I looked down at the ring in the box. It was a silver band that formed a twisted pave style at the front that was encrusted with small diamonds before meeting the diamond love heart in the middle. It was simple, slightly vintage, and it was beautiful. I looked back up at him and smiled, trying to stop the tears from falling.

He smiled back and raised his eyebrows, waiting for an answer.

"Yes," I nodded, "Yes, I'll become your "queen"." I laughed quietly and wiped my cheeks. It was no use; the tears were replaced with fresh ones almost immediately. He slid the ring onto my fourth finger on my left hand and closed the box over. He stood up and I did too, taking a few quick steps and jumping into his arms. I threw mine around his neck and he lifted me up, spinning me around. When my feet touched the floor again, I looked up and my lips were met with his. "I love you." I whispered as we parted.

He wiped my tears away and smiled, "I love you too." I kissed him a few more times before I let go of him and looked down at the ring on finger. I was so in love with it already. He cleared the table quickly and I blew the candles out and looked at the flowers. "Hey, nine of these are real but one it fake."

He walked over and threw the dish towel back towards the kitchen after drying his hands with it. He smiled as he put an arm around my waist and looked at the roses, "I will love you until the day the last rose dies."

"Who knew a night could be so perfect?" I whispered quietly, kissing him again. He returned the kiss with several and I jumped up, putting my legs around him as he supported me against him. We continued to kiss as he walked out of the dining, removing one hand from my back momentarily to switch out the dimmed light in the foyer as he moved towards the staircase. We reached our bedroom eventually and he dropped me onto the bed, holding himself above me as he kissed down my neck. I ran my nails down his back as he did and closed my eyes in the blissful moment.

* * *

We had woken up late this morning and Morgan had called the team around midday asking what they were all doing tonight. We were both slightly surprised that no one had plans but it worked in our favour. He invited them all out to dinner with us tonight at the restaurant we always went to when something important or big happened within the team and we wanted to celebrate elegantly at a place that wasn't just an old bar.

I wore a tight, dark burgundy dress with a high neckline that went down to just past my knees, black heels and a black handbag. I would have taken a clutch, but with two children, a clutch wouldn't cut it.

I walked into the restaurant, my left hand linked in Morgan's and Priya on my right hip. Ainsley was holding Morgan's other hand. We were a bit late; Priya had a small tantrum.

"Hey." JJ smiled as we approached the table. The rest of the team looked towards us and greeted us with big smiles.

"Hey." I smiled as we sat down. Ainsley wanted to sit beside me and the high chair was beside Morgan's seat so I handed her to him. "I am so sorry we're late; Priya decided it would be a fun time to scream about absolutely nothing because her life if perfect and she needs to get over herself and then Morgan refused to drive with her crying like that so we took longer to leave the house than I had originally planned."

"She needs to get over herself? Really?" Sarah laughed.

"I don't even care that she's only 7 months old and can't even say mama." I looked over at Priya, completely oblivious to the fact that I was joking about her, "Get the hint, kid."

They all laughed at me and Morgan held my left hand on my knee to keep it off the table and hidden. We had agreed to keep it out of everyone's view until we told them. We talked around the table and looked at menus and ordered before anything was said that would start our reveal.

"So we normally only come here when something important and big has happened; so what's going on?" Reid asked Morgan and I. We looked at each other and I bit my lip to keep my smile back.

"Please dear god, do not tell me you're pregnant again." Garcia said to me.

I snickered and shook my head. "Two is enough. I love alcohol too much to ever be pregnant again."

"Then spill." Rossi smirked. It was then that I knew that he was aware of what was going on.

I looked at Morgan, "He knows. That's how you got the wine…"

Morgan smiled and nodded. He looked at Rossi and they both laughed quietly to themselves.

"Tell us." JJ said impatiently.

I looked at Morgan and took a breath before he took his hand away from mine and I lifted mine up, palm away from them to show the ring on my finger. A large smile spread across my face as I saw their eyes light up.

"Oh my god!" JJ exclaimed excitedly. She jumped from her seat and ran to me, taking my hand and looked at the ring, "AH!" She jumped, "It's so beautiful! Congratulations, guys!" She hugged me for a short while and then hugged Morgan before kissing his cheek and sitting back down. We were congratulated by the smiling, elated team. Sarah and Garcia hugged the both of us. Rossi kissed both my cheeks and shook Morgan's hand. Reid, Hotch and Will all shook Morgan's hand and kissed my cheek with a hug.

"Congratulations." Jack said to us very politely. I thanked him with a smile and Hotch smiled at his son proudly.

Once we all settled down more, they asked questions and JJ asked for a step by step recount of how the night went and how the Morgan popped the question. I let him do most of the talking. I sat with a smile, admiring the ring on my finger and turning it mindlessly as I did.

I was happy. Morgan was happy. Our daughters were happy. The team was happy.

Life couldn't get any better.

 _Now_ it was perfect.

* * *

 **I know, it's a bit of a shit finish, but I wrote this a while ago and I guess I just didn't see where else I could take it. I'm horrible at finishing stories.**

 **Thank you to my FANtastic followers that read the majority of what I write, shit or slightly better than shit. If it weren't for the fans, I wouldn't still be doing this.**

 **Suggestions for other stories are always appreciated.**

 **Thank you again as always. I love you guys :)**

 **-A xx**


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